Back pain is shared by all people regardless of race, and acupuncture has been around for a while now to help in easing the pain. All around the world, people have sought medical care at one time or another for back pain. There are a number of causes of back pain but mostly it's due to overstretching of the ligaments, or commonly called as "sprain". Sometimes it is caused by a tear or strain in the muscle. These situations can be brought about by injury, poor posture or a disease that has developed.

Nowadays people tend to turn to alternative medicine due to the prohibitive cost of health care, or sometimes due to the concern over the side effects of drugs. Of the various traditional options in the market today for the relief of back pain, acupuncture has emerged as one of the most effective and least expensive choice. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese therapeutic method that has been around for centuries. It uses fine needles inserted at specific places in the body, which the Chinese call "meridians". They believe that these "meridians" correspond to the major body systems, and that the punctures are meant to release our body's vital energy called the "qi". It is believed that if the "qi" is unblocked and is allowed to flow freely in the body, it can correct whatever disorder a person is suffering from.

Acupuncture can be either distal or local. In distal therapy, the needles are inserted away from the area of pain. This is often used for instant relief of acute pain. Sometimes the needles will be complemented with cupping or electric stimulation. Acupuncturists would know where to find the points that will have impact on the pain and concentrate the punctures there. The frequency of the acupuncture sessions depend on the level of pain: as the pain dissipates, the sessions decrease as well.

There have been studies to support the effectiveness of acupuncture in removing back pain. A Swedish hospital released a study conducted on patients with chronic back pain where they concluded that long term relief is obtained through acupuncture, and that better sleep and an improved sense of well-being likewise resulted from acupuncture. In the United States, acupuncture is now widely accepted as complementary therapy for the treatment of musculoskeletal pains, including back pain. However, there are very few definitive studies on the subject due to the very low number of research on acupuncture.

Nevertheless, acupuncture has remained quite popular across the country, and many swear by its effectiveness in relieving all kinds of pains. It appears to be quite effective and has unbelievably very few side effects. Because it is only mildly invasive, it can be carried out alongside conventional pain treatment regimens. If you are one those people who have been using spending a considerable amount of money on conventional treatment of back pain, all to no avail, it may be high time for you to consider acupuncture. It is always better to keep an open mind while staying reasonably cautious about alternative therapies such as acupuncture.