Chronic low back pain makes everyday activities more difficult, from working and exercising to gardening, traveling, or getting comfortable trying to sleep at night. For some people, the pain is always there in the background. For others, it improves for a while and then flares up again.

Acupuncture offers a non-drug approach to managing chronic low back pain, with a focus on reducing pain, improving function, and helping you stay active. In fact, acupuncture is included among the non-drug treatments recommended by the American College of Physicians for chronic low back pain.

What is Chronic Low Back Pain?

Low back pain is generally considered chronic when it has been an ongoing problem for 12 weeks or longer. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your back hurts all the time. Chronic low back pain can be a consistent, low-grade ache, or it may come and go, with periods when you feel relatively good followed by flare-ups.

You may notice that your back pain increases or returns after exercise, overexertion, a long day of physical activity, or certain movements. In other cases, the original injury has long since healed, but the pain continues months or years later.

Common Causes of Chronic Low Back Pain

Chronic low back pain can have many different causes, and sometimes there is more than one factor contributing to the pain. Common causes include:

– Previous injuries or muscle strains
– Degenerative changes and osteoarthritis
– Disc-related conditions
– Spinal stenosis
– Chronic muscle tension and soft tissue pain
– Repetitive strain or overuse

Sometimes chronic back pain begins with an injury that seems relatively straightforward, such as overdoing it during exercise, lifting something heavy, shoveling snow, or repeatedly bending and twisting. Poor posture, body mechanics, or workplace ergonomics can also contribute to back strain.

Even after the original injury has healed, pain may persist or continue to flare periodically. In some cases, there is no single identifiable cause for chronic low back pain.

How Does Acupuncture Help Chronic Low Back Pain?

Acupuncture can help regulate the nervous system and influence how the body processes pain. Treatment may also help release muscle tension, improve circulation, and improve mobility.

For low back pain involving tight muscles and trigger points, your acupuncturist may incorporate dry needling techniques into your treatment. Dry needling is a specific acupuncture technique (one among many) that target tight bands and trigger points within the muscle to help release tension and improve movement.

At Seneca Falls Acupuncture, dry needling is not used as a stand-alone treatment. When appropriate, we incorporate it into a more comprehensive Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture treatment, allowing us to address both the areas where you feel pain and the broader patterns that may be contributing to it.

Research On Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain

Acupuncture has been studied extensively for chronic low back pain and is included in major medical guidelines as a non-drug treatment option.

The American College of Physicians recommends that people with chronic low back pain initially consider non-drug treatments, including acupuncture, exercise, yoga, tai chi, and other approaches.

Research has also found that acupuncture can help improve painin people with chronic low back pain. A 2025 randomized clinical trial in JAMA Network Open included 800 adults age 65 or older with chronic low back pain. Compared with usual medical care alone, acupuncture produced greater improvements in back-pain-related disability at 6 and 12 months.

2025 JAMA Network Open randomized clinical trial.

Common Acupuncture Treatment Plans for Chronic Low Back Pain

Your treatment plan will depend on how long you’ve had low back pain, the original cause, and how you respond to acupuncture.

For most patients with chronic low back pain, we recommend starting with one treatment per week for eight weeks. Acupuncture is cumulative, which means that multiple treatments are needed to see a difference. In addition, consistent treatment gives us an opportunity to build on your progress from one appointment to the next.

Some patients who have had chronic low back pain for decades may need more than eight weeks of treatment in a row. It’s a gradual process, and back pain that has existed for a decade likely (but not always) requires more treatments than back pain that started a year ago. That is simply the nature of how acupuncture works.

After your initial treatments, we aim to gradually space your appointments farther apart to see if you can go two, three or four weeks while still maintaining your results. Some patients with chronic or recurring back pain choose to continue with monthly maintenance treatments to help maintain their progress and prevent flare-ups.

Your acupuncturist will discuss their recommendations with you at your first appointment and adjust your treatment plan based on your progress.

Why Choose Seneca Falls Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain?

At Seneca Falls Acupuncture, pain management is one of our primary areas of focus. Our licensed acupuncturists, Melody Osgood and Laura Luka, have experience treating chronic low back pain from a variety of causes, and your treatment is tailored to your specific symptoms and history.

Our clinic has been voted Best Acupuncture Clinic in the Finger Lakes four years in a row in the FLX Finest competition, and we have more than 110 five-star Google reviews from patients in our community. We also pride ourselves on our quiet, comfortable clinic where you have the opportunity to rest.

We serve patients from Waterloo, Geneva, Auburn, and throughout the Finger Lakes.

Can I Get Acupuncture While I'm Getting Physical Therapy, Chiropractic, or Massage for Chronic Low Back Pain?

Yes. Acupuncture is often used alongside physical therapy, chiropractic care, and massage. These treatments can complement each other well.

Acupuncture can help reduce pain and release tight muscles and trigger points. In some cases, this may make it easier for your chiropractor to perform an adjustment or allow your massage therapist to work more effectively with muscles that have been particularly tight or resistant in the past.

It can also help reduce pain so that you are better able to complete the required physical therapy exercises.

Let your acupuncturist know what other therapies you’re receiving so we can take them into account as part of your treatment plan.

Ready to Try Acupuncture for Your Chronic Low Back Pain?

If chronic low back pain is keeping you from doing the things you enjoy, we’re here to help.

Ready to get started? Click here to schedule your first acupuncture appointment online, or contact us if you have questions about whether acupuncture may be a good fit for your specific symptoms. We’re happy to discuss with you.

Contact Our Friendly Office Staff:

Call/Text: (607) 216-8112

Email: info@senecafallsacupuncture.com

Address: 12 N. Park Street, Seneca Falls, NY 13148