Acupuncture for Back Pain, Neck Pain, and Hip Pain

One of my favorite things to do in acupuncture is to treat back pain with acupuncture.  I am an acupuncturist and surgeon practicing in Modesto, CA with my wife, Dr. Tammy Wu who is a board certified plastic surgeon.  My office is inside her office – we practice at the same location.  Her name is on the top of the building.  Our address is 2336 Sylvan Ave. Suite C, Modesto, CA 95355.  For more info besides this blog, you can visit our more formal back pain acupuncture page.

I’m using the term back pain to include the whole posterior chain of the body which includes the neck, the back – upper and lower back pain, and hips  – for example pyriformis syndrome, or pain in the buttock area, and sciatica pain (irritation of the sciatic nerve).

I can’t fix everyone’s back pain, but muscular back pain works best with acupuncture

I’ve noticed that the back pain / neck pain / hip pain that responds best to my style of acupuncture is pain which is mostly related to muscles.  Pain in the back can originate from three main sources: muscular back pain, skeletal/joint related back pain, and nerve related back pain.

However, the results may be different for back pain acupuncture with other practitioners.  I’m just blogging about my own results.

Back pain relief is one of the most effective things I do with acupuncture

I do a lot of different things with acupuncture.  I work on stress, depression, fertility, asthma, allergies, carpal tunnel, fibromyalgia, smoking cessation – the list goes on, but back pain acupuncture is on top of the list for effective relief of symptoms.

Is the back pain relief temporary with acupuncture?

I get this question often.  Sometimes the back pain / neck pain / hip pain, etc comes back.  But often times, I think it’s because we didn’t get rid of the source of the problem.  Sometimes the back pain is postural or caused by work – some of these things are hard to change.

Does back pain acupuncture hurt?

A few patients say that it doesn’t hurt at all.  But most patients will feel something, but it’s not that uncomfortable that they wouldn’t come back.  There are four forms of acupuncture which I use and if the patient is somewhat uncomfortable, I can eliminate some of the forms of acupuncture and still have a reasonably effective acupuncture treatment for the back pain.  The four forms of acupuncture used to treat back pain in my Modesto practice are:

• Energetics acupuncture
• Microsystem acupuncture – using the ear.
• Local acupuncture
• Electro acupuncture

Note the electricity doesn’t hurt as much as it sounds.  In fact many patients report that it feels soothing.

What to expect after acupuncture for back pain

• Some feel a better range of motion right after the treatment – as they are walking out the door
• Some feel nothing at all
• Some feel soreness the next morning.
• Many start to feel better 48 hours after the treatment

How many treatments are needed?

For most patients with back pain, I’ve found that patients will usually need 5-10 treatments.  I think most patients do about 8 sessions.  But I usually tell the patients that we have to determine a “cut off” for acupuncture.  Because I have found that I can’t fix everyone’s back pain, I’d like to come up with a way to make sure that we’re not wasting time and resources.  I’ve found that if a patient has tried acupuncture for four times and has not received some partial relief, I’m about 90% sure that additional acupuncture wouldn’t help.

Is there Botox for Back Pain?

YES! there is!  This is available as well at my practice.  Injecting Botox and precise location of shots are very similar to parts of acupuncture.

Do we take insurance for back pain acupuncture?

Unfortunately we do not accept insurances.  Some patients have found methods to bill insurances on their own if they know that they have acupuncture coverage.  We are not involved in that process.  Many have reported receiving about $25 back for their visits for back pain acupuncture.  We know for sure that most insurances do not cover for certain acupuncture treatments such as fertility.

Other back pain and acupuncture resources

• I wrote an article about “what is acupuncture”
• Acupuncture in Modesto (our main acupuncture webpage)
• Back pain info scroll to where it says “a visual guide to back pain”

I hope you will consider Surgical Artistry in Modesto, CA for your back pain treatment.  We’ll use acupuncture techniques and possibly Botox if requested.