The previously unknown risks of acupuncture
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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Acupuncture or acupuncture is an unconventional or also called alternative treatment method, used for several millennia. This procedure originated in China and was actively used in medicine.
Acupuncture like yoga is not so much a mechanism of influence on the human body as an ancient, established philosophical system.
Hundreds of patients of the National Health Service of the United Kingdom (NHS), undergoing acupuncture treatment, suffered from complications caused by this method.
Among the side effects of acupuncture is the collapse of the lung, dizziness, and also the needles left in the body.
Scientists warn that acupuncture is not such a safe method of treatment, as was previously thought. In some cases, this can cause irreparable harm to the health.
Over the past two years alone, 325 patient complaints have been recorded that have been treated with "healing" acupuncture. This number includes 100 cases when people forgot to remove all needles, 63 loss of consciousness after a session and 99 incidents when people felt weak and dizzy.
In addition, five patients had pneumothorax - a damage caused by a light needle, in which air enters the pleural cavity, disrupting lung function. If you do not immediately hospitalize the victim, then such a session of health-improving acupuncture can result in a fatal outcome.
"The negative consequences that followed after the acupuncture session described in this study are usually infrequent and relatively light, but there are good reasons to suspect that due to inaccurate and incomplete reports, the real extent of the problem is much greater," says the professor of complementary medicine and in the past practicing homeopath Edzard Ernst.
To date, doctors of the National Health System have prescribed acupuncture to relieve pain in the lower spine.
However, there are not only those who consider acupuncture a dangerous procedure, but also adherents of this method. Needle lovers say that thanks to this treatment they got rid of painful migraines, allergies, toothache, went out of depression and even recovered from infertility.
The therapeutic approach of acupuncture is formed outside the modern model of evidence-based medicine, so the World Health Organization is currently working to promote an evidence-based approach in assessing the effectiveness, quality and safety of non-traditional therapies.