Low Back Pain Management with Acupuncture - A Case Report
This is a real success story of one of my patients to show the use of acupuncture for chronic low back pain management without the use of pain medication. I hope this can shed light on what integrative medicine has to offer and give hope to anyone dealing with chronic pain.
Case Report - Low Back Pain Treated with Acupuncture and Manual Therapy
A 62 year old female who worked at a hearing testing center came into the clinic presenting with severe low back pain following a physical therapy session to rehabilitate left-sided costal pain. She had dealt with an insidious onset of low back pain for more than 10 years, at which point she was diagnosed with a herniated disc and stenosis in the lumbar spine and a bone chip impacting the right sciatic nerve. It had been in remission before the PT appointment. Interventions that had helped in the past include pain medication, muscle relaxers, heat application, and wearing a lumbar support belt. She has had intermittent right foot hypoesthesia and subjective cold feelings in her foot and posterior right knee that accompanied the low back pain. The patient was wearing a back brace, moving hesitantly, and refusing to sit during the initial intake for fear of not being able to get up again. She was also unable to stand up straight without a sharp “grabbing” pain in lumbar and did not want to take pain medication. The pain was centered over the right-sided lumbar area, posterior right knee and her right foot felt subjectively cold. Pain reported was at a constant 9/10. The low back pain was preventing her from getting up from sitting and getting out of the shower. She was unable to go to work, where she needed to sit for up to an hour with clients, and waking due to pain and coldness in her right foot several times each night.
She was treated in the clinic with electro-stimulation acupuncture and manual therapy (focused muscle releases with the use of pressure points) two times per week for eight weeks. At that point, her pain had reduced to a mild to moderate level and she was able to stand up straight with mild to no pain. Extension of lumbar elicited 6/10 pain and she was still avoiding twisting and bending as much as possible. At this point she was able to return to work part-time. The pain was no longer waking her at night consistently and cold feelings and hypo-sensation in posterior knee and right foot had reduced to affecting only the dorsum of toes of right foot. She then came in for treatment one time per week for another four weeks. At this point she was back to working five days a week and able to be sitting at her work station for up to an hour with mild pain at the end. At her last treatment, the patient reported a pain level of 1-2/10 only with twisting and extending lumbar spine.
If you or anyone you know is in acute or chronic pain don’t hesitate to contact the office with any questions and to schedule an appointment to begin managing pain without the use of habit-forming pain medication.
