I first met Mark* around this time last year. He arrived into the clinic accompanied by his wife, who was obviously very concerned about him. Mark had been referred to me by a local chiropractor who felt that Mark might benefit from some acupuncture for his back pain as he was not progressing as she hoped.

By this stage, Mark’s back pain was chronic; he had not been able to work for over six months. MRI scans showed several bulging discs, as well as degenerative changes in the lumbar region (lower back) of his spine. Mark was pretty much in constant pain and he tried several different therapies, none of which had worked. After assessing his MRI reports and taking a detailed medical history, I came to the conclusion that acupuncture alone wouldn’t be enough. I explained to Mark that chronic pain, such as he was experiencing, is primarily caused by stagnation.

Stagnation is when something is blocked or impeded. The easiest way to understand it in terms of your muscles is to think of them as a network of little tubes, with the muscle cells making up the walls of the tubes and your blood running through the centre of the tubes. The muscle cells need a constant flow of blood through them, both to nourish them and to remove the toxic by-products of muscle metabolism. When muscles are overworked or chronically fatigued these toxic by-products cannot be cleared fast enough and are deposited within the muscle. One of the by-products, lactic acid, eventually crystallises and it is these lactic acid crystals that form what we often refer to as ‘knots’ in our muscles. When this occurs, the muscle cells around that area become congested and less flexible and this can then lead to that area becoming damaged and tearing on exertion. This, in turn, allows tiny bits of blood to be released into the muscle causing further congestion. Over time these damaged areas act like blockages for the flow of blood through the muscle, thereby preventing those areas from being nourished and healed and also promoting further congestion and damage. The result is chronic pain.

Once I had explained this to Mark, I advised a treatment plan that incorporated Cupping and Gua Sha, two manual techniques, as well as acupuncture to alleviate his back pain and promote healing. The Cupping and Gua Sha would release the congestion held in his muscles while the acupuncture would promote healing of them, as well as helping to prevent further degenerative changes in his lumbar spine and possibly reverse some of the bulges in his discs.

After the first treatment Mark’s back pain had significantly decreased and he no longer had any pain down his left leg. Within four treatments, his back pain had localised to one small area in his lower back and was only approximately 30% of the pain he had been experiencing for almost a year. After six treatments Mark was completely pain free and just eight weeks after walking through my doors, he returned to work. One year later Mark is still completely pain free, he continues to see me for a maintenance treatment once a month, and given that he’s a plasterer by trade I regard him as one of my greater successes.

*To protect the patient’s identity this is not his real name.