Low back pain can be anything from a minor annoyance to a crippling impediment, stopping you from the activities you enjoy and distracting you from work and family obligations. Thankfully, Chinese medicine has wonderful tools for relieving low back pain and tightness and for supporting improved strength and suppleness. I get fantastic results for low back pain using acupuncture and moxibustion, two of the many tools that Chinese medicine provides. 
For many of my acupuncture patients, moxibustion is the “secret weapon” that greatly improves their response to treatment.
Moxibustion is the practice of burning an herb known as moxa near the skin. Moxa is a warming, strengthening, and circulation-enhancing herb that can penetrate deeply into the muscle tissues to release tension and improve circulation. Many of my patients love the warm and soothing sensation of heat near their skin and can feel their muscles relax during the treatment. I will typically use five to fifteen minutes of moxibustion over the tight areas, then use acupuncture to release additional areas of tightness that have not responded sufficiently with moxibustion alone.
Using acupuncture in combination with moxibustion provides my patients with near-immediate relief from low back pain, followed by longer-term changes enabled by the acupuncture needles. For some patients I use acupuncture to strengthen the aspects of their bodies that allowed the low back pain to start in the first place. Or other patients I use acupuncture to reduce stress and anxiety, improve full-body circulation, or address internal conditions such as digestive concerns, women’s health issues, immune system complaints, and others.
If you have been suffering with low back pain for a while, come give acupuncture and moxibustion a try. My patients typically see at least a 50% improvement in back pain symptoms after the first treatment, and by the third or fourth session find that the pain is completely or almost completely gone.
