The Chinese practice of acupuncture is one of the world's oldest medical treatments. Its goal, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, is to heal chronic pain or illnesses by penetrating the skin's surface with needles. A trained therapist uses electric stimulation or their hands to unblock pathways of vital energy, which is believed to regulate the body. While acupuncture is safe when performed by a trained therapist, some people do not respond to treatment and others may experience side effects.
Bleeding and Pain
The most common side effects of acupuncture occur at the site of needle entry. A metareview of acupuncture side effects published in "Canadian Family Physician" revealed that pain and bleeding at the needle entry point were most common. Bleeding can present particularly serious complications in people with hemophilia or those taking blood thinners, as these individuals have a difficult time clotting. Bleeding was cited by 53 percent of therapists in a 2001 study published by the "British Medical Journal" -- one of the largest and most widely cited studies on the effects of acupuncture.
Enhanced Symptoms
Some people have reported that acupuncture actually made their condition worse. The "British Medical Journal" study showed that 11 percent of acupuncturists reported "aggravation of symptoms" as a side effect, while the "Canadian Family Physician" showed "aggravated symptoms" was the leading side effect -- 2.8 percent of all issues. The study showed that 86 percent of those cases in the latter study would improve, signaling the phenomenon of a "healing crisis." Healing crises occur when a therapy causes you to feel worse before feeling better.
Therapist Error
States each have different rules regarding the licensure of acupuncturists. As of October 2010, 42 states require licensing, according to the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, while only 40 require the practitioner to pass a certification test. Inexperienced or untrained therapists are more susceptible to mistakes than veteran acupuncturists. Both studies reported incidents of punctured lungs and broken needles, which become embedded in the body.
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