Atlanta Acupuncture For Lower Back Pain

The National Institutes of Health reports that up to 80 percent of the general population in the United States suffers or will suffer from an episode of lower back pain. That means four out of five adults are likely to have lower back pain at some point in life, making it one of the most common neurological ailments, second only to headache.

There are many treatments and remedies available for persons who suffer from this condition. And while there is no definitive treatment, the use of Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain has experienced a dramatic increase over the past few decades.


A number of placebo-controlled studies have established and validated Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain as a reliable method for pain relief. In fact, the Annals of Internal Medicine has published a meta-analysis on Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain showing how among the two dozen previously published studies on back pain treatments, acupuncture is "significantly more effective" than sham acupuncture or no treatment.

ACUPUNCTURE: How it Works

Acupuncture is a significant component of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has been used to treat a number of illnesses for hundreds of years in China and most Asian nations.

The treatment is based on a theory that the human body is made up of channels or meridians where the "life force" or qi flows through. If these meridians are blocked off because of stress or any number of causes of illness, it would compromise the health of the individual. The goal of acupuncture, therefore, is to unblock the clogged meridians and allow the qi to once more flow freely throughout the body. This is done by sticking needles unto the affected meridians to release the qi.

The Science Behind

In a recent study published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, Dr. Christer Carlsson and his colleague Dr. Bengt Sjlund of the Lund University Hospital in Sweden were able to prove the safety of using Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain.

Recruiting 50 patients (comprised of 33 women and 17 men) all of whom have been suffering chronic low back pain for a minimum of six months, the scientists randomly assigned one group out of three to undergo sessions of Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain. The other two groups underwent electroacupuncture and placebo, respectively.

After four sessions plus a follow up treatment two months later, "significant" changes were observed in the group that underwent Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain. Based on these results, the scientists concluded that "there is now reasonable evidence that acupuncture has a clinically relevant pain-relieving effect on certain forms of chronic pain."

Several more studies were conducted investigating the effects of Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain. While the question of efficacy remains widely disputed, a good number of the European medical community are adopting Atlanta acupuncture for lower back pain as a valid treatment method.