Back Pain: Pain in the back

I’m often asked about how I got into acupuncture: The answer is simple... I was over stressed, physically as well as mentally and I was told to quit my [then current] job. As it happens the company went bust but my back continued to hurt.

One doesn’t need to know me well to know I love sports which are associated with pain. I am a keen long distance cyclist, swimmer and walker. I simply love mountaineering and I ski and climb regularly. Yes, I can endure a lot of pain for many painful miles and I am always bruised.

But, once upon a time... Out of the blue... I was not able to walk 100 metres (or yards?) while carrying a laptop in my backpack.

Private insurance and MRI, concluded that, at the beautiful age of 21 and a half, there was nothing wrong, except that I was getting old.

So, living life in limbo, thinking I was old and ready to die, I landed in the magic hands of an angel acupuncturist who taught me a lot and inspired me to becoming an acupuncturist myself. Regular treatment did not only help my back but my own general wellbeing.

Now I know that indeed, there was nothing pathologically wrong with my back. Acupuncturists will tell that there was something wrong with the flow of my qi. In Western terms this means that physical as well as mental stress were tensing the muscles of my back. In turn, blood was not able to move freely, so it was not able to bring nutrients and “healing aid”. Muscle tension was also trapping my nerves and acupuncture released those blockages, allowing my own body to self heal. 
by Andrea Steinlechner