[CASE of Acupuncture] Acute Low Back Pain Due To Herniated disc (Slipped disc)

[CASE] Acute Low Back Pain Due To Herniated disc (Slipped disc)

8/12/2020

The patient is a woman in her 30s.
When she was working in a veterinary clinic as an assistant 3 days ago, she had herniated discs in her low back. She had had the same problem before. She went to a chiropractor yesterday. Her low back hurt especially when she stood up and climbed the stairs.

1st Treatment
When she checked her back, she felt pain in her low back when she bent her back backward and when she turned her back towards both sides.

Her pulse was fast because of the medication for her other health issue.
She had tender spots on her abdomen related to low back pain and other symptoms (Fig. 1).
I had her lie on her right side and checked her back for tender spots (Fig. 1).
There were a lot of tender spots along the spine, on the buttocks.
I put some needles in and confirmed that there were no tender spots, and let her relax for 10 minutes.
I did the same treatment on her left side.
I had her lie on her back and confirmed that the tender spots on her abdomen also got better and her pulse calmed down.
I asked her to stand up and check her back.
The pain of both bending her back backward and turning her back decreased.
I told her to come back in 2 days and finished the first treatment.

2nd Treatment (2 days later)
She said that she could move more, but she felt pain especially on her right low back with quick movements.

When she checked her back, she still felt pain in her low back when she bent her back backward and when she turned her back towards both sides.

Fig. 2 shows the tender spots on her body.

I did almost the same treatment as the last time.
After the treatment, I asked her to check her back and she didn’t have any pain with neither bending her back backward nor turning her back.

3rd Treatment (3 days later)
She said that there were only tightness in her low back and felt 95 % better.
When she check her back, there was no pain with neither bending her back backward nor turning her back.
She had also pain in her shoulders and she couldn’t raise her arms all the way up (up to 100 degrees).

Fig. 3 shows the tender spots on her body.

I did the treatment for both low back pain and shoulder pain.
After the treatment, she could raise her arms all the way up smoothly and didn’t feel any discomfort in her low back, so I finished the course of the treatment for her acute low back pain.