I am currently treating a 74 year old man for lower back pain. He came to me for acupuncture because he was experiencing acute pain in his hip and lower back. He actually has 2 problems, the acute pain in his hip and buttock region and chronic pain in the lumbar area due to arthritis.
What I find interesting is that he believes that he will always have lower back pain because he has arthritis, despite feeling better with each of the 3 treatments he has had. I am not sure if I can convince him that he can have arthritis and no pain.
My challenge will be to keep this patient coming for acupuncture treatment long enough to get him to a pain free state with his belief. He is seeking relief from the acute pain and I think he will stop coming once that is resolved. I hope to resolve his chronic pain in the same time frame as the acute pain to bring to his awareness that he does not have to live with that pain.
In general, acute pain does resolve faster and with fewer treatments than chronic pain.