What low back pain is
Low back pain covers everything from a one-off spasm after lifting the groceries to an ache that has come and gone for years. Most of it is mechanical, meaning it comes from how muscles, joints and discs are loaded rather than from disease. Your physician rules out the rest, and is the right first call for back pain that is new and severe.
When to get urgent care
Get emergency care first, or call 911, if back pain comes with:
- loss of bladder or bowel control, or numbness in the groin and inner thighs (the saddle area)
- weakness that is getting worse in a leg, or a foot that slaps or drags
- severe, sudden pain with no clear cause, or pain after a fall or accident
- fever, unexplained weight loss, or a history of cancer
Pain and dysfunction are rarely at the same address
A low back that hurts is often a low back doing someone else's job. Hips that no longer rotate, an upper back that has stiffened at the desk, or glutes that have gone quiet all push extra movement into the lumbar segments. So we look up and down the chain as well as at the sore spot.
How we work with it
The muscles found on assessment, often the multifidus, quadratus lumborum, the glutes or the deep hip rotators, are treated with dry needling and orthopedic acupuncture. Active Release Techniques free fascia that has stuck, and functional movement corrections retrain the hinge, the squat and the way you get out of a chair. If the leg is involved, see sciatica and bulging discs.
What we track together: how long you can sit, bend or walk, how you sleep, and how the movement that hurt most now feels.
Questions people ask
Can acupuncture help lower back pain?
Acupuncture for low back pain has been widely studied, and here it is combined with hands-on work and movement corrections rather than used alone. Whether it fits your case depends on what the evaluation finds is driving the pain.
My back just went into spasm. Should I rest or keep moving?
For most simple spasms, gentle movement within comfort tends to help more than bed rest. Distal points can be needled while you move, which is often easier than needling a back that is locked. If any of the urgent signs on this page are present, see a physician first.
Will I be sore after dry needling of the back?
Some soreness for a day or two is common, a bit like after a hard workout. Pain that clearly worsens beyond that, or any new numbness or weakness, is worth telling us about promptly.
Do you treat sacroiliac joint pain?
Yes. The SI joint is checked at every low back evaluation, since it can refer pain into the buttock and thigh and is easily confused with a disc.
This is general wellness information, not medical advice.
