How Acupuncture Can Help Your Back Pain — Especially When You’re 65+

Drug-free, Gentle, Lasting Relief for Back Pain

Chronic low back pain is one of the most common physical complaints as we age. For many older adults (65+), it’s more than an annoyance—it limits daily activities, reduces mobility, disrupts sleep, and often leads to reliance on medications that may come with side effects.

Fortunately, new research is giving us cause for hope. And at Encircle Acupuncture, we’re already putting those insights into practice every day.

What the Latest Study Shows

A recent NIH-funded clinical trial, known as BackInAction, focused specifically on older adults (65+) with chronic low back pain (lasting 3 months or more). 

Key findings:

• Compared standard acupuncture (8–15 sessions over 12 weeks) and “enhanced” acupuncture (same course plus 4-6 maintenance sessions) to usual medical care (medications, physical therapy, etc.). 
  
• At 6 and 12 months, those who received acupuncture had greater improvement in pain-related disability than those with usual care alone. 
  
• In addition to less disability and pain, participants in the acupuncture groups showed better physical function and lower anxiety. 
  
• Importantly, the study shows acupuncture is safe, even for older adults who often have other medical conditions. 

Study co-author Andrea J. Cook, Ph.D., had this to say about their findings:

"Acupuncture offers a less invasive option that has a better safety profile than a lot of the common treatments for back pain in older adults."

This is the first large-scale randomized clinical trial to specifically examine acupuncture for chronic low back pain in adults aged 65 and older. That’s a big deal, because until now much of the evidence has focused on younger adults or mixed age groups. 

What Other Research Shows

• A systematic review/meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials confirms that acupuncture + conventional therapy tends to outperform conventional therapy alone for chronic low back pain. 
  
• Another review showed acupuncture is often more effective and safer than certain oral pain medications (especially relevant for those who want to avoid the side effects of meds). 
  
• Moreover, acupuncture has good evidence for improving not just pain, but quality of life, physical function, mood, and sleep in many people with chronic pain. 
  

How Cupping Can Help

Cupping is another tool of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that can help relieve back pain. Some of its benefits:

• Helps relieve muscular tension and stiffness in the back, especially in the superficial layers of fascia and skin.
  
• Promotes circulation to affected areas, which can help reduce inflammation and speed healing.
  
• Often used in combination with acupuncture to enhance relaxation, ease pain, and support deeper work.
  

While fewer large clinical trial focus solely on cupping for chronic low back pain in older adults, clinical experience suggests that cupping is a helpful adjunct — especially for tight muscles, trigger points, and improving mobility.

Distal Acupuncture: Gentle, Strategic, Effective

Patients are often surprised when we don't place needles directly in the back to treat back pain. At Encircle we use distal acupuncture — placing needles at points on the arms, legs, hands, and feet that connect via energetic meridians to the back region. Here’s why distal needling can be especially valuable:

• Avoids disturbing already inflamed/irritated tissues in the back itself.
  
• Can bring about remarkably fast improvement in symptoms.
  
• Stimulates systemic nervous system responses: pain modulation, release of endorphins, improved circulation.
  
• Often better tolerated and more comfortable to rest for an hour in a reclined position, rather than face-down on a table.
  

At Encircle Acupuncture, we build treatment plans using distal points on the extremities tailored to your constitution and symptoms. This approach tends to be gentler and more comfortable, while still producing equivalent or even better results than local needling. 

How Encircle Acupuncture Can Help You

Here’s what you can expect when you come to us for back pain relief:

1. Personalized evaluation — We’ll talk with you about your pain history, what makes it better or worse, your overall health, and mobility.
   
2. Gentle acupuncture treatment — Your acupuncturist will place needles in your arms and legs to address your pain, and then you'll rest comfortably in a recliner for up to an hour.
3. Safe, drug-free care — No reliance on pain meds or invasive treatments, with extremely low incidence of side effects.
   
4. Long-term support — If needed, maintenance treatments and adjustments over time so the benefits last (as shown in the BackInAction trial).
   

Why This Matters for Older Adults

• Older adults are at higher risk for side effects from medications such as NSAIDs and opioids. Acupuncture offers a safer alternative.
  
• Mobility and quality of life are essential: being able to move without constant pain, do daily tasks, sleep better, and enjoy life.
  
• Evidence like BackInAction shows that acupuncture doesn’t just offer short-term relief — the improvements in pain and function are sustained for at least a year. 

Takeaway

If you’re 65+ and dealing with chronic low back pain, know this:

• There is solid scientific evidence that acupuncture helps reduce back pain, improve function, and relieve stress and anxiety, even when compared to usual medical care. 
• At Encircle Acupuncture, we've been helping patients of all ages experience pain relief and better quality of life since 2010.
  

Ready to Try It?

Don’t let back pain keep you from doing what you love. If you want a drug-free, evidence-backed path to moving better, sleeping better, and enjoying your life more, we’d love to help.

Book an appointment with Encircle Acupuncture today. Let’s work together on a treatment plan that fits your body, your comfort, and your goals. Book online or call us in East Nashville at (615) 457-1979 or Bellevue at (615) 645-9866.