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 *** Acupuncture treatment can help back pain *** 

Nearly a third of people admit to having poor posture, which means we are heading for a back pain epidemic.  

The recent Acupuncture Awareness Week highlighted back pain and how our lifestyle choices are putting our backs under too much strain.

Many of us sit at desks all day, then go home and sit for the rest of the evening - eating meals on laps, working with laptops, slouching on the sofa... some of the many things that lead to bad posture.

As your posture deteriorates it makes it much easier to strain the muscles and irritate the nerves around your back joints.  This can trigger bouts of back pain which if left untreated can go on for months or, in some cases, years.

Acupuncture is a great alternative to taking pain killers for back pain problems.  Rather than masking symptoms, it actually changes the way the brain perceives signals from the body.  It allows the brain to dampen down pain signals, especially useful if the pain response is no longer useful (e.g. if a body part has healed after an injury, but the brain is still protecting the area, as if it is damaged).

Acupuncture is based on ancient principles which go back nearly two thousand years.  Very fine, sterile needles are inserted painlessly at specific points of the body to trigger a healing response.  The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends acupuncture for persistent, non-specific lower back pain.  Its guidelines recommend that GPs should offer a course of 10 sessions of acupuncture as a first line treatment.

It is a shame then that 40% of people would only consider visiting an acupuncturist as a last resort!

The NHS admits there is reasonably good evidence that acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic back pain, as well as dental pain; pain and discomfort during gastrointestinal endoscopy; headache; nausea and vomiting after an operation; pain and discomfort during IVF procedures; and osteoarthritis of the knee.

Simple lifestyle changes together with acupuncture treatment could save millions of people taking pain medication every day.

If you are suffering with back pain (or any other problem that is causing you to reach for the paracetamol tablets), come along to Absolute Health for a consultation.  We will try to offer a suitable treatment to help you get back to health and help you reduce the need for pain killers. 

Call Absolute Health today on 0116 282 7766 - let us help you to Get The Most out of Life!