Acupuncture for chronic pain

We all experience pain at some point in our lives. Pain is nature telling us, "Your body is being injured - take action to stop damage and prevent it from happening again." Reaching for medication is a common choice for some, however it’s worth considering whether it’s a suitable approach. If pain is our body’s way of warning us of harm, temporarily masking it with drugs means we’re ignoring the warning and allowing injury to continue. It also means that the root cause of the problem isn’t being addressed and potentially becoming worse. 

There are two main types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain warns you that you’ve been hurt - it starts suddenly, and when the injury heals, the pain stops. Chronic pain, on the other hand, continues after the injury has healed, lasting for weeks, months, even years. According to the National Centre for Health Statistics, the most common sources of chronic pain include low back pain, neck pain, and headache or migraine pain.

In April 2021, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) released a guideline for the management of chronic pain which states: “this guideline underlines the importance of appropriate assessment, careful drug choice, exercise programmes, psychological therapies, and consideration of acupuncture in improving the experience and outcomes of care for people with chronic pain.” It also states: “people with chronic primary pain should not be started on commonly used drugs including paracetamol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, benzodiazepines or opioids. This is because there is little or no evidence that they make any difference to people’s quality of life, pain or psychological distress, but they can cause harm, including possible addiction.” (www.nice.org.uk) 

Though acupuncture is already widely known for its effectiveness in the treatment of pain, it’s fantastic to see NICE recommending it ahead of common painkillers. Acupuncture’s unique role in reducing suffering in people with pain is in fact one of the main reasons it has become so popular around the world. I’m also thrilled to see NICE highlighting the need to take a more holistic look at sufferers and their ability to enjoy life.

The most common chronic pain conditions I see in clinical practice include:

• Back pain and sciatica
• Hip pain and bursitis
• Knee pain and osteoarthritis
• Headaches and trigeminal neuralgia
• Foot pain and peripheral neuropathy