Acupuncture: A Treatment for Lower Back Pain
Chronic lower back pain is a major health disorder in the world today (Mendelson, Selwood, Kranz, Loh, Kidson, Scott, 1983). It can cause many physical, mental, and emotional problems on the victim (Mendelson, Selwood, Kranz, Loh, Kidson, Scott, 1983). Many people find their work so unbearably painful that they often have to stay home. Others experience depression, inactivity, and social isolation (Kaplan, Sallis, Patterson). Treatments range from the conventional methods such as medication and surgery to the alternative or unconventional methods such as acupuncture. However, only a small percentage of low back pain patients have the type of condition for which surgery can be used so acupuncture
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One group received acupuncture for low back pain, and the other group received a "single-blind placebo-controlled design"(http://www.bastyr.edu). The group that received the acupuncture showed better relief of their back pain than the placebo group.
Another claim being made by acupuncturists is that acupuncture helps people recover from drug and alcohol abuse by reducing their withdrawal symptoms and relieving the depression, anxiety, and insomnia often associated with drug and alcohol abuse (http://www.acupuncture.com). The needles are placed in the ear because the ear corresponds with the nervous system and the acupuncture supposedly works by altering the chemical levels in the body and acting on the nervous system (http://www.acupuncture.com).
Studies that prove the effectiveness of acupuncture
One study, conducted in 1983, was a single-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, where eight patients were treated by acupuncture and nine patients were treated by placebo (Macdonald, Macrae, Master, Rubin, 1983). All of the patients had received previous treatment by conventional methods and had felt no relief. The results of the study showed acupuncture to be strongly superior to the placebo (Macdonald, Master, Rubin,
Therapeutic touch was developed by Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz in the 1970s as a non-invasive nursing intervention (Kelly et al. 2004). Jackson and Keegan (2009, p.614) defined therapeutic touch as “a specific technique of centring intention used while the practitioner moves the hands through a recipient’s energy field for the purpose of assessing and treating energy field imbalance.” The original theory of the technique proposed by nursing theorist Rogers (1970) is that individuals as a unified whole have their own permeable energy fields that extend from the skin surface and flow evenly when they are healthy. The energy field of the ill physical body is disrupted, misaligned, obstructed or “out of tune” (Huff et al. 2006). TT has the potential to re-pattern, reorganize and restore the individual’s imbalanced energy fields through the open system extending from the surface of the body interacting with the environment constantly (Krieger, 1979). The earliest studies of healing touch were carried out in the 1950s and 1960s: biochemist Bernard Grad (1965) collaborated with famous healer Oskar Estebany to demonstrate the significantly accelerated healing effects of therapeutic touch on wounded mice and damaged barley seeds. The central aim of healing therapies is to relax and calm patients in order to activate patients’ natural healing ability, and it does not include any religious activity (Lorenc et al. 2010).
After talking a bit about what the religion was about and how it started, I started asking him some other questions. ...
The lumbar region of the human spine is a location that is very susceptible to injury and trauma. A majority of the population experience back pain at some time during their life, and although in most cases the pain subsides after a time of rest, there is an enormous need for treatment of this malady. The various types of treatment for lumbar disc herniations include a more conservative method of rest, physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory or non-steroidal drugs. A more extreme condition would require surgery to try to alleviate the symptoms. The older, more traditional surgery is a posterior laminotomy, however, newer less invasive microscopic and endoscopic surgeries been implemented to increase success and recovery time as well. Although most of these operations are performed on the posterior, anterior surgeries are also performed, depending upon the nature of the injury. While these surgeries partially remove disc material affecting the spinal cord, another type of surgery is used to remove the disc entirely and replace it with prosthetics. Still, there are alternative treatments including chiropractic care, acupuncture, and physical therapy that are increasing in popularity. Due to the sensitivity and vulnerability of the spinal cord, the diagnosis and treatments have a moderate risk of failure, and force a patient to explore numerous options to relieve pain.
It is said by Felicia Morgan’s attorney, Robin Shellow, that the environment in which Morgan grew up in was somewhat comparable to a “war zone.” In some ways I agree with Shellow and believe that there are similarities between the two. Although the attorney makes it clear that there is a difference between the ghetto and a war zone and that the ghetto is in some ways worse. Shellow starts off by saying, “In war, there is at least a sense that someday there will be a resolution, some vision that things could be different. That is not the case in the inner cities. There is no vision. And there is no sense of who is friend and who is foe.” From what the media tells citizens, the g...
The word “chiropractor” has two word origins, the Greek words cheir and praxis; meanwhile, cheir means “hand” and praxis means “practice.” Also, most of the work that chiropractors do is done by hand (Pike para. 5). In 2002, going to a chiropractor was found to be the most commonly used program for therapy. Seventy-four percent, about 4 million, of people that had back pain went to a chiropractor to get treated. Among that 74 percent of people, 66 percent of them stated that they got “a great benefit” (Pike para. 9). Many chiropractors work full time but 1 out of 3 chiropractors work part time. Chiropractors work whenever their patients need them, even on w...
The aim of acupuncture to heal explicit pathologies has not been determined but it does reestablish systemic equilibrium to the patient’s reservation of Qi. For the body’s system to be recalibrated with its Qi, needles are implanted at certain meridians in order to
There are three claims for why acupuncture is effective: reflexes, hormones, and energy transfer. When the needle is inserted into the skin, the nerves send signals that travel up the spinal cord, into the brain, and block the pain center in the brain. This prevents pain and other signals from entering and exiting the brain and severity of the symptoms is suppressed. This allows the body to heal itself while the individual is unaware of any pain or other distress (http://www.acupuncture.com/Acup/Works.htm).
Pain Relief – Causes of acute and/or chronic back pain may include weak stomach and/or back muscles, poor posture, spinal misalignment, and the force of compression caused by gravity. Inversion therapy is used like traction to relieve pressure on the discs and elongate the spine, which reduces the pressure on nerve roots, discs, and ligaments. All that relates to lessening back and neck pain. Sometimes those tense muscles create painful muscle spasms, which are also temporarily relieved by inversion therapy.
Cooper, Joel. Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007. Print
The procedure involves inserting hair-thin steel surgical needles into specific points in the body which are supposed to make you feel better, and be healthier. This is only the technical aspect though. To understand the “art” of this procedure, you must have a background on Chinese medicine. How it works is this: health is achieved though the balance of the opposing forces between “yin” (spirit), and “yang” (blood). The attraction between them creates an energy called “Qi” ( pronounced chee). This energy flows to all parts of the body through channels which are known as “meridians” (pathways that run along the surface of the body and branch into the body’s interior). An imbalance in these forces is what is believed to cause illness and disease. When needles are placed on the acupuncture points along the meridians, balance, and hence, health is restored. There are several styles of acupuncture, the differences being how the acupuncture points are stimulated (be it by hand pressure, electrical impulse, ultrasound, or wavelengths of light).
Reflexology What is reflexology? Reflexology is the theory that the human body can be healed from disease or imbalance through pressure on specific points on the hands, feet, and ears (http://www.doubleclickd.com/reflexology.html). This alternative form of healing is doubtful by many, although there are studies that support its theory. History of Reflexology Reflexology is an ancient method of healing that originated in Egypt and the Orient. More than four thousand years ago, man discovered this treatment for imbalance, and recorded their discovery in drawings on cave walls.
Hoy, D., Brooks, P., Blyth, F., & Buchbinder, R. (2010). The Epidemiology of low back pain. Best Practice and Research Clinical Rheumatology, 24, 769-781. http://dx.doi:10.1016/j.berh.2010.10.002
Physical activity is the key to success in the treatment of chronic low back pain (CLBP), and exercise itself has the most permanent and long lasting effects (Abenhaim et al. 2000). Although the variety of conservative, complementary, and surgical treatments available, such as medication, thermotherapies, ergonomic and self-care advices, and patient education, proven to be beneficial for CLBP, at the present time the main aim is to provide effective interventions as well as reduce the health care costs.
With yoga as a part of your daily routine, physical health issues can be treated. Back Pain if left untreated can lead to surgery. Ways of avoiding surgery include relaxing the nerves, fixing your posture, loosening and strengthening the muscles, which can be corrected by the practicing of yoga. Bad posture can eventually cause nerves in the spine to come out which are painful for the spinal disk and vertebrae. By gaining physical awareness by using yoga stretching and breathing you can focus more on the sensations your body feels while doing the simplest of tasks such as washing your dishes. (McCall 190) Effect of Short-Term Intensive Yoga Program on Pain, Functional Disability And Spinal Flexibility in Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Control Study writes “Deep relaxation of the spinal muscles achieved during safe body movements with mindful awareness may form the basis of improvement observed in flexibility and pain within this short period of intervention” (Tekur et al.
I disagree with abortion. I think that no matter when you terminate, it is still killing a possible life; a life that is not theirs to give. Pro-life advocates, as well as many scientists, feel life starts at conception. If this is the case, abortion is akin to murder, which is the act of taking a human life. In our country, the rights of all humans are protected, which should be extended to include the unborn child who cannot speak for itself. And those who intentionally harm or take the life of another human, should bear some responsibility or punishment. When a woman is responsible enough to “make” the child, she should be required to live with the ensuing consequences and give birth to that child, otherwise, face punishments equal to those who kill another as a drunken driver in a car accident. Their bad decisions resulted in loss of a human life, and they need to be made accountable. On the flip side, abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime instead of the perpetrator who should be punished for their crime.