By Dr. Abbey Jo Shulkin, DAOM, L.Ac. | ReliefNow Laser Boynton Beach | Boynton Beach, Florida
Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the single largest contributor to years lived with disability globally, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study. In the United States, it costs an estimated $635 billion each year in direct medical costs and lost productivity. For patients in Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, and across Palm Beach County who have cycled through standard management without lasting resolution, the integrative approach at ReliefNow Laser Boynton Beach combines the Regenerative Medical Laser™ protocol with Eastern medicine to consider both the tissue-level and neurological aspects of chronic back pain.
Chronic back pain involving a disc or nerve component often does not resolve through time and medication alone. Evaluating the underlying mechanism is an important part of understanding the condition.
As a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine within the national ReliefNow® network, my approach brings together two clinical traditions at this location, combining long-established Eastern medicine principles with the cellular repair technology of FDA-cleared Class IV laser therapy.
Why Does Back Pain Become Chronic?
Back pain becomes chronic in approximately 20 percent of initial episodes, according to research in The Lancet. Once chronic, the condition involves several compounding pathways. Disc degeneration creates facet joint stress, facet arthritis develops, and the paraspinal muscles tighten protectively. Nerve root irritation adds a neurological dimension, and central sensitization, the nervous system’s pain amplification response, becomes established.
Traditional Chinese Medicine’s understanding of chronic lumbar pain aligns with this multi-mechanism picture. It points to the Kidney deficiency that underlies long-term lumbar weakness, the Qi and Blood stagnation that maintains local pain and stiffness, and the cold-damp or heat pattern that shapes the specific quality of a patient’s pain. These frameworks guide treatment selection in a way that the Western diagnosis of chronic low back pain does not, allowing acupuncture treatment to be calibrated to the specific pattern rather than applied generically.
What Does the Regenerative Medical Laser™ Protocol Do?
The Regenerative Medical Laser™ protocol uses FDA-cleared, Class IV near-infrared laser energy directed at lumbar tissue. Class IV laser therapy, also known as photobiomodulation, is a treatment approach studied for its role in pain management and tissue recovery. A 2015 systematic review in the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine reported that photobiomodulation was associated with improvements in pain and disability among chronic low back pain patients.
What Does Eastern Medicine Add?
Acupuncture for chronic back pain is understood to work through several neurological mechanisms. These include modulating ascending pain pathways through segmental spinal gate mechanisms, activating descending pain inhibitory systems through supraspinal pathways, and the release of endogenous opioid peptides such as enkephalin and endorphin. A 2012 meta-analysis in Archives of Internal Medicine examined acupuncture’s effects on back pain across more than 17,000 patients and found measurable benefits. These neurological mechanisms differ from those associated with laser therapy, which is part of the reasoning behind combining the two approaches.
What Does Integrative Back Pain Care Look Like at ReliefNow Laser Boynton Beach?
Each patient receives an evaluation that integrates Western pain assessment with Eastern pattern diagnosis, identifying both the structural source of the pain and the constitutional and meridian pathway patterns shaping the chronic presentation. Treatment combines laser therapy directed at specific tissue sources of pain with acupuncture calibrated to the patient’s Eastern medicine pattern. This approach is designed to consider chronic back pain at both the cellular and neurological levels.
Patient education resources are available on the ReliefNow Laser Nation video channel. ReliefNow Laser Boynton Beach is located at 3389A Woolbright Rd, Boynton Beach FL 33436 and can be reached at (561) 794-1784.
About the Author
Dr. Abbey Jo Shulkin, DAOM, L.Ac. | ReliefNow Laser Boynton Beach | 3389A Woolbright Rd, Boynton Beach FL 33436 | (561) 794-1784
Dr. Shulkin holds a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (DAOM) from the Acupuncture and Massage College, with post-graduate training at the Atlantic Institute in Parkinson’s disease specialty. She is a Parkinson’s Foundation certified fitness instructor and a DAOM and acupuncturist within the national ReliefNow® network, founded by Dr. Robert Hanopole, DC.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before beginning any treatment program.
