Acupuncture for Back Pain

Back pain can make sitting at a desk, lifting your children or getting a good night’s sleep a daily battle. In large clinical trials, acupuncture has eased chronic low back pain and helped people move more freely, often doing better than standard care alone. Our practitioners have been treating pain in London for 25 years.

Book an initial consultation or call 0207 935 2030 for a free 15-minute chat.

What causes back pain?

Most back pain is “non-specific”, meaning it comes from the muscles, ligaments and joints of the back rather than a serious underlying problem. Common triggers include long hours sitting, lifting awkwardly, poor sleep, stress and simply being less active. Pain that lasts more than three months is called chronic back pain.

See your GP or call 111 straight away if back pain comes with numbness around your bottom or genitals, problems passing urine or controlling your bowels, weakness in your legs, unexplained weight loss or a fever. If pain spreads down one leg, read our sciatica page.

How acupuncture can help

For chronic low back pain, acupuncture can reduce pain and stiffness and make everyday movement easier. It works best as part of a wider plan that keeps you active, and many patients find it gives them the relief they need to get back to exercise and normal routines.

We also see people with recent back strains, back pain in pregnancy and pain that keeps coming back. We’ll assess what is driving your pain, use acupuncture as one part of a plan, and tell you honestly if we think physiotherapy or another approach would suit you better.

Researchers think acupuncture works partly by changing how nerves and the brain process pain signals, including the release of the body’s own pain-relieving chemicals. The exact mechanisms are still being studied.

What the research shows

• Vickers et al., 2018 (Journal of Pain) — combined raw data from 39 trials and 20,827 patients with chronic pain, including back pain. Acupuncture outperformed both sham and no acupuncture, and most of the benefit was still there a year later.
• Haake et al., 2007 (Archives of Internal Medicine) — 1,162 people with chronic low back pain in Germany. After six months, 47.6% improved with acupuncture compared with 27.4% with standard care of medication, physiotherapy and exercise; sham acupuncture did nearly as well as real acupuncture (44.2%).
• Mu et al., 2020 (Cochrane review) — 33 trials and 8,270 people. Acupuncture gave clinically important pain relief and better function compared with no treatment, though its advantage over sham was small.

Results vary between people, and acupuncture is not a replacement for medical assessment.

What to expect

Your first appointment lasts an hour. We take a full history, look at any scans or reports you bring, and agree a plan with you. Treatment uses very fine, single-use needles in the back and often the legs or hands, left in for 15 to 20 minutes. Where suitable we may add electro-acupuncture, cupping or a heat lamp to ease tight muscles.

Most people start with weekly sessions and we review progress together after four to six. Initial consultations start from £80; see clinics and fees for details.

Why The London Acupuncture Clinic

• 25 years treating patients in London
• Degree-qualified practitioners who work alongside GPs and consultants, with close links to physiotherapists and chiropractors
• Open seven days a week, with early-morning and evening appointments
• Receipts for insurance claims on request

What our patients say

“I went to the clinic to treat terrible lower back pain, and after just one session, I felt much better, and over time, the problem was completely resolved.” — A.R., Google review