When exhaustion and fatigue lead to back pain

Here’s the story of a man called Jeff. *

Meet Jeff

(* Jeff is a made-up character, but this scenario is very common in our clinic.)

Jeff works hard at his job, looks after his family and even has a bit of spare time for hobbies.

Jeff reckons he looks after himself pretty well, eats pretty well, sleeps not too badly, nothing’s perfect but everything is pretty much normal.

Then one day, it happens.

The sock

Jeff bends down to pick up a sock off the floor.

Next thing he knows, it feels like someone just snuck up behind him and slugged him in the lower back with a sledgehammer. Then right away, they locked his back in a tight steel brace.

He’s in a huge amount of pain, can’t even stand up straight, wonders what the… heck… is going on. He manages to stumble to the bed to lay down and give himself a moment to think.

The pain doesn’t seem to get much better and he calls his partner. Together they decide to go to the doctor. The doctor tells Jeff he probably has a muscle spasm.

Jeff think that doesn’t sound right! He’s had cramp in his foot before. The foot cramp felt nothing like this. This pain is extreme. Jeff asks to have some x-rays anyway. Jeff’s doctor says sure, and gives him a referral for some imaging.

Jeff’s doctor is pretty clued in. He gives Jeff some options – for example various medications, maybe physio, and/or he might want to get some acupuncture.

Jeff gets acupuncture

This is where we come in. When Jeff comes for his first acupuncture appointment, the pain is the obvious thing. Jeff is hobbling as he walks in the door. He chooses to stay standing up when he’s waiting in the reception area. He winces and holds his weight as he eases himself into the chair in our consultation room.

But there’s also a kind of… embarrassment? It’s not a very glamourous story… the sock…

Jeff is wondering how on earth this sock could have knocked him for six.

How we explain the sock

And this is where Chinese Medicine has a framework to understand it.

Jeff is a good guy, and he’s just keeping up with everyone else, just going along with whatever’s going on around him.

Unfortunately for Jeff, that means it’s been a little too easy to overwork his body. It’s a little too easy to get depleted, scrimp a little too much on sleep, rely a little too much on coffee. It all seems like it’s not a problem… until the sock.

You know about the straw that broke the camel’s back? Well, this is the sock version.

You see, it’s not about the sock at all. It’s all about the conditions in Jeff’s body, gradually becoming fatigued. Gradually becoming depleted, exhausted.

Living a “normal” life in our society actually creates these conditions in a LOT of people. “Burning the candle” seems like it’s the new normal.

The lower back is especially prone to this

Our framework shows why the lower back is especially vulnerable to injury like this, when there’s been fatigue.

And you know how some people will “get the flu” when they get run down? Well, according to our framework, it’s actually the same root cause. One person’s flu is another person’s acute lower back sprain.

Our responsibility to Jeff

When we help people like Jeff with their recovery, we take our responsibility deeper than simple pain relief acupuncture.

Rather than just do acupuncture treatments to “make the pain go away”, we teach Jeff about how his body is asking for help. We show him some small and simple lifestyle changes that will start to fill his tank again.

We give Jeff some short-term relief with acupuncture, combined with a solid medium-term strategy, to give him better foundations long-term.

This is how we think. It’s always about what’s best now, later and in Jeff’s future. This is how we weave our treatment plans.

Start your path with us, to a better future

You don’t have to sacrifice your long-term health for a short-term fix.

Especially in cases of lower back pain, caused by muscular strain, with exhaustion as the root condition – this is a shining example of how the Chinese Medicine approach, with genuine acupuncture, can really give you a win-win strategy.

Click to get started on your path with us. We look forward to helping you feel better now… and to building great foundations for you!