What is distal acupuncture?

When people contact us seeking acupuncture for back pain, they often think we’ve wasted our breath explaining our community acupuncture option—until we tell them that we can treat their back pain even if they’re sitting in a recliner chair. In fact, we can treat their back pain without going anywhere near their back.

How?

There is perhaps no better way to illustrate how an acupuncture needle in the back of the knee, for example, can treat pain in the back than this analogy from Dr. Richard Teh-Fu Tan, pioneer of a popular method of distal acupuncture: “You can walk to the light bulb, or you can flip a switch. We needle where the switch is.”

In other words, local acupuncture is the insertion of acupuncture needles directly into an area of concern: the back, in the case of back pain. Distal acupuncture is the insertion of acupuncture needles elsewhere. There are a number of acupuncture points located on the hand, for example, that are commonly used to treat back pain.

While people tend to associate “getting right in there” with faster relief, this isn’t always a good idea—for example, if an area of concern is particularly sensitive or painful.

In some cases, local acupuncture isn’t even feasible. Conditions such as frozen shoulder can make it difficult for people to move the affected shoulder to take off their shirt for a local treatment.

If you need relief from back pain, distal acupuncture has your back—even, perhaps, from your ankle.