Subscribe
Acupuncture/ pressure

Safety of acupuncture

JR

Several years ago I wrote an article on the safety of acupuncture. I thought it worthwhile to see if any new reviews had been published.

Based on the results of Google and PubMed searches, it seems the safety of acupuncture was a hot topic around 1999 to 2001, here, here, and here, for example. There is also an interesting article with a detailed table that chronicles the reported complications, with reference citations, types of practitioner, and outcomes between 1958 to 1999.

Here are the top 3 reported adverse events related to acupuncture reported by 84 Japanese therapists following 65,482 acupuncture treatments in Japan.

  • Failure to remove needles (27 cases)
  • Ecchymosis (“black and blue” mark) without pain (9 cases)
  • Ecchymosis accompanied by pain (8 cases)

    7/4/06 11:08 JR

    Hi, I’m JR

    John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.

    Related Posts