Is Acupuncture Effective?

Some will sing praises of acpuncture and others say the placebo effect makes people feel less pain.  Studies have shown that acupuncture has been helpful for low back pain.  I tried it after I strained my lower back (Quadratus Laborum) muscles last fall and believe that the needles helped release the trigger points (muscle knots) that had formed in my low back.  Several small needles placed at strategic points of the body are supposed increase the body's opioid response.  Makes sense to me.

I recently strained my QL muscles again and physical therapy, massage, and chiropractic have had minimal effect. Some claim that acupuncture is too expensive, but I say that I paid out more in insurance copays to get pain relief than I probably would have by seeing an acupuncturist

I understand the concern about cost. Some acupuncturists charge $65 to $75 for a first visit. I managed to find a decent doc that charges $55.  Most health insurances don't cover acupuncture because it doesn't guarantee good results. Perhaps insurers could cover treatment if a patient has tried other modalities without luck.  If a pain problem is currently unresolvable because of a chronic condition, acupuncture may be the only hope for pain relief. 

A post that appeared on a website in my city, received a number of positive responses about acupuncture that also mentioned recommended practitioners.

http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2011/09/26/a-good-acupuncture-place

Healing Sore QL Muscles

I never had low back pain but was feeling quite sore after I cleaned out several rooms of my mother's house.  I didn't hurt immediately but was very sore and stiff when I woke up the next morning.  The first time I had the problem, it was relieved by a physical therapist who used ultrasound (deep heat).

Another visit to clean out the rest of my childhood home left my low back sore and stiff again. Several visits to the physical therapist didn't take care of the problem the second time and I tried a few sessions of massage with some luck.  Then we had to move.

"Here we go again," I thought.

My massage therapist explained that my QL (Quadratus Laboreum) was the culprit. "It's the moving mucscle," she said. "It's the muscle that lifts your leg."  She also went on to say that the muscle can be strained if you bend and twist at the same time or bend at certain angles repetitively.  In my case, I kept bending my upper torso at a 45-degree angle to sort through piles of paper and tupperware.

Two rounds of Swedish Massage helped but the muscle still stiffened when I sat for longer than an hour. Another massage therapist recommended using a technique called myofascial release to gently and adequately stretch the muscle.  As she stretched the muscle with both hands, I felt the individual muscle fibers separate and release.

I'm feeling better but the jury is still out on whether or not my latest massage will produce lasting results. I'll keep moving and swimming to keep my muscles more limber in the meantime.