I never had a back problem until I started carrying my kid. Not when I landscaped or built wooden doors or dug ditches all day. But years of slouching at my desk and not exercising enough finally did the trick.

While playing with my son at Wilson Park, my lower back stiffened. By the time I got home, I couldn't move. The pain was overwhelming. I stayed in bed the next day while surfing the Web for possible causes. A slipped disc? Please God no; nothing that might require surgery.

A muscle spasm seemed more likely. My doctor agreed. She wasn't keen on prescribing muscle relaxers, and I didn't want to rely on some wacky pharmaceutical that would merely mask the problem. My doc told me to rest. In a few days, maybe a week, I'd be back to normal. I asked her about acupuncture. She said I should go for it if I wanted to but my insurance would likely not cover it.

To pay or not to pay? My wife convinced me to seek treatment.

I called Malik Lawrence down the road at Carrboro Acupuncture Clinic. He could see me right away. We consulted for a while, and he agreed it was a muscle spasm. And he could treat it, aggressively, with heat, cupping and acupuncture.

As soon as the needle hit the muscle, I felt a deep ache, as if the muscle was being forced to unclench but didn't want to.

I asked what the needles were actually doing. Malik told me that a spasm involves nerves and muscles, which contract and become rigid. Acupuncture helps in a couple of ways. It triggers the release of natural chemicals that help nerves and muscles interact properly. Acupuncture also increases blood flow to the tissues. Both of these things ease muscle contraction and also help explain why acupuncture is good for stress relief -- a stressed-out person is more likely to get sick because his mind and body are not in their natural states. As a result, the immune system can't properly fight the millions of germs and bugs that our bodies battle every day.

One reason my back seized up was my lack of activity. My muscles shortened, tightened and weakened. Then, when my kid entered my life, I started carrying him around Carrboro all the time. I put too much pressure on my lower back. Voila! Back trouble.

According to unconventional wisdom of alternative medicine practitioners, my back would not likely heal without some sort of treatment. Rather, congestion and scar tissue would build up. The surrounding muscles would merely compensate for the failing muscle, distorting my alignment.

If I took a muscle relaxer, my back would likely feel healed for a while, but the pain would likely return. This is why some back problems become chronic. Drugs just numb the inflammation until the other muscles can compensate.

I learned some new stretches to strengthen those tiny muscles in the lower back. But I should probably do yoga or something to strengthen my entire body. I still don't leave my desk enough, but I've had no recurring back trouble. In fact, within a day or two of my first acupuncture session, I felt much better, and a whole lot more relaxed.

Despite all this, I know it's tough to pay out-of-pocket for acupuncture when a licensed doctor prescribes rest, or -- yikes -- pills.

This is one of the absurdities of our health care system, which is too often geared toward treating symptoms instead of addressing underlying causes of symptoms.

For centuries, it had been easy to dismiss acupuncture and alternative medicine because there hadn't been many scientific studies backing it up. Today, you can find research studies that prove the efficacy of acupuncture for treating all sorts of things, including neck pain, headaches, infertility, and even nicotine addiction. Yet, acupuncture is only covered by a few insurance programs.

Meanwhile, insurance companies cover prescriptions for off-label use of drugs, such as antidepressants for stomach problems. Why? Because such unconventional uses have shown a certain degree of effectiveness despite lacking FDA approval for their off-label uses.

So if acupuncture works, why not cover it, at least partially?

I can only surmise that there's not enough money in it. If the goal of alternative medicine is to return people to their natural healthy states, then what happens when a sizeable portion of the population stops sucking at the teat of Big Pharma?

Mark Derewicz is a writer who lives in Chatham County. Contact him at derewicz@gmail.com