Is it safe?
May 2, 2012 by Kristen Horner Warren
Filed under FAQ About Acupuncture
Like any medical procedure, acupuncture is not entirely without risk. Fortunately, injuries are extremely rare among patients treated by trained practitioners. In the United States, acupuncturists use factory-sterilized, single-use, disposable needles. The needles are individually packaged according to strict government guidelines and are discarded immediately after use, so there is no risk of disease transmission.
In a Japanese survey of 55,291 acupuncture treatments given over five years by 73 acupuncturists, 99.8% of them were performed with no significant minor adverse effects and zero major adverse incidents (Hitoshi Yamashita, Bac, Hiroshi Tsukayama, BA, Yasuo Tanno, MD, PhD. Kazushi Nishijo, PhD, JAMA). Two combined studies in the UK of 66,229 acupuncture treatments yielded only 134 minor adverse events, such as slight bruising or momentary bleeding (British Medical Journal 2001 Sep 1). The total of 121,520 treatments with acupuncture therapy were given with no major adverse incidents (for comparison, a single such event would have indicated a 0.0008% incidence).
Common, minor adverse events
A survey by Ernst et al. of over 400 patients receiving over 3500 acupuncture treatments found that the most common adverse effects from acupuncture were:
- Minor bleeding after removal of the needles, seen in roughly 3% of patients. Holding a cotton ball for about one minute over the site of puncture is usually sufficient to stop the bleeding.
- Bruising, seen in about 2% of patients. Bruising usually go away after a few days. This side effect is more common among patients taking blood thinning medications such as Coumadin, warfarin, Plavix, or anti-inflammatory drugs.
- Dizziness, seen in about 1% of patients. Some patients have a conscious or unconscious fear of needles, which can produce dizziness and other symptoms of anxiety. Patients are usually treated lying down in order to reduce likelihood of fainting. Being careful to eat a light meal or snack prior to treatment significantly reduces the likelihood of this type of problem
The survey concluded: “Acupuncture has adverse effects, like any therapeutic approach. If it is used according to established safety rules and carefully at appropriate anatomic regions, it is a safe treatment method.”
Risks from omitting orthodox medical care
Receiving any form of alternative medical care without also receiving orthodox Western medical care can be inherently risky, since undiagnosed disease may go untreated and could worsen. For this reason I prefer to consider acupuncture a complementary therapy rather than an alternative therapy, and always encourage my patients to remain under the care of their physicians.
Safety compared with other treatments
Commenting on the relative safety of acupuncture compared with other treatments, the NIH consensus panel stated that “adverse side effects of acupuncture are extremely low and often lower than conventional treatments.” They also stated: “the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted medical procedures used for the same condition. For example, musculoskeletal conditions, such as fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, and tennis elbow… are conditions for which acupuncture may be beneficial. These painful conditions are often treated with, among other things, anti-inflammatory medications (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.) or with steroid injections. Both medical interventions have a potential for deleterious side effects but are still widely used and are considered acceptable treatments.”
