It may surprise you to know that if one visited 2 different acupuncturists for the same issue, each acupuncturist will probably perform very different treatments. You might be wondering how this can be possible. Isn’t there just one way of getting rid of my low back pain?

Actually, there are a plethora of ways acupuncture can treat low back pain, reduce anxiety or deal with a headache. This is because there are not just one, but many styles of acupuncture.

Logically, one would expect that if one had low back pain, then the low back area would be needled. This style of acupuncture is referred to as local acupuncture. 

However there are also distal styles of acupuncture. Distal acupuncture involves placing needles distal (or far away) from the site of discomfort. These styles were derived from the I Ching, one of the oldest books in the world.

Dr. Richard Tan, the developer of the Balance Method (a distal style), described distal acupuncture in this way: “you can walk to the light bulb, or you can flip the switch. We needle where the switch is.”

The acupuncture points used could be located on the scalp and ears, or on the arms and legs. Consequently, patients can lay on their back face up and often will not need to remove any clothing.

There are 2 main benefits to distal needling. First, the site of pain will not be needled. This means that there is no chance of further injury or irritation at the pain site by needling, and it will also allow the patient to give feedback as they are needled whether the injured site is better. 

The second benefit is that patients often experience results immediately. Since the nerves are denser below the elbows and knees, the central nervous system has more stimulation to release endogenous opioids such as enkephalins, beta-endorphins, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine, and to stimulate blood flow to the site of pain. More brain stimulation causes a larger shift in these natural chemicals. Because of this ability to tap into the body’s natural healing system, acupuncture can do more than just treat pain. Acupuncture can and does help bring the body’s organ systems back into balance and reduce stress.

So a distal acupuncture treatment can be very efficient, comfortable and very effective.

To give you a better sense of how distal acupuncture works, here are 2 videos showing Dr. Eileen Hahn, one of Dr. Richard Tan’s key apprentices, treating knee pain and shoulder pain.

Video #1: The patient has knee pain. Notice that the knee is not needled, but rather the area around the elbow.

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