Back pain is so prevalent in society that alternative treatments to conventional medicine have become very popular. Acupuncture, chiropractics, massage, electrical muscle stimulation, and biofeedback have been used for years. Ambient sound may now be added to the list.Sound Health Inc., a research company in Ohio, has reported that “two sets of sequenced frequencies…support the ability to significantly decrease, and in a number of cases, completely alleviate pain for research subjects reporting various degrees of back pain.” Sound Health conducted hundreds of trials over four years and found dramatic results.
Sound waves are, in fact, already being used to treat back pain. Ultrasound, or very high frequency sound, is used to relax muscles and dissolve dead tissue. Low frequency sound is also being used to relax muscles.
What Sound Health discovered, though, was that certain tones could be delivered through the air, through speakers or headphones, and still bring about pain relief. The tones, created by a machine dubbed “The Little Back Box” by patients, are transmitted in sessions lasting three to five minutes.
The tones seem to stimulate the brain to create pain relief signals, and to continue to do this after the sessions end. Even degenerated discs seem to rebuild themselves after tone treatment. Some tones are considered “generic,” while other tones may be helpful for specific back conditions.
Sound therapy has also been used to help patients with kidney stones, respiratory failure, and other conditions. One tone trains the heart and brain to synchronize with each other, which aids in healing.
