I wish more people would try acupuncture *before* resorting to surgery.  There is definitely a

I wish more people would try acupuncture *before* resorting to surgery.  There is definitely a bias in that I see SO MANY people for whom surgery either did not work, or made things worse.  The ones who got better probably aren’t coming in to see me for back pain, right?   Still, my perspective is that sometimes surgery and/or certain medications make my job of helping people reduce and eliminate pain *much* harder.  Also, what people need to know is that it is usually not just one treatment, but a series of regular treatments, at least one per week.  Sometimes, with severe or chronic disruptive pain, it is two or three times per week.  But still, read this article, written by an MD.   In it, he writes,there is very little evidence that spine fusion surgery for back pain is effective. It is very expensive (the implants alone are often tens of thousands of dollars per case), often leads to complications, often requires further surgery, is associated with increased mortality, and often does not even result in the spine being fused.The rate of spine fusion surgery is increasing and has been increasing for many years. The rate in the US has gone way past the rate of one spine fusion per 1000 population per year. It has overtaken hip replacement surgery and continues to rise. The rates of surgery vary widely across the US, where back fusion is associated with a high degree of practice variation.Several reasonably decent randomised clinical trials have been published comparing surgery to non-operative treatment for back pain. There have been no sham surgery trials, but the evidence from these [other] trials indicate that this surgery might achieve its results through the placebo effect.Source: http://www.theage.com.au/national/back-pain-try-some-placebo-surgery-20160223-gn1xna.html#ixzz41lTgxfoOSo please consider giving acupuncture a good trial before resorting to surgery! -- source link

More pics about