A 54-year-old woman with degenerative back pain

Back pain is a common symptom: up to 70% of UK adults experience this symptom by the age of 60 and most have moderate to severe pain. Back pain accounted for 12% of consultations to traditional acupuncturists in 2001 and is one of the most common reasons for consultation with an acupuncturist. This case report concerns a 54-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer and degenerative lower back pain, which remained painful despite intensive pharmaceutical management and facet joint injection and was ultimately successfully managed with two 30 min acupuncture treatments 2 weeks apart, using eight points on the BL meridians. Acupuncture treatment using tender points was later trialled for neuropathic pain secondary to local recurrence in her mastectomy scar, however this was unsuccessful and inpatient hospice admission for further intensive pharmaceutical management was required.