Pros & Cons of Acupuncture

Q. What are the pros and cons of acupuncture treatment ?

A. Pros

• Immediate pain relief: You will feel instant pain relief and the relief will last way longer than most pain pills. In over 90% cases in my experience, the pain will be relieved in less than 10 seconds. Note that it usually takes at least half hour for pain pills (such as Tylenol or Avil) to take effect which lasts only a few hours.
• Get rid of side effects of medications: No need to worry about the side effects caused by pain pills or other medications such as the notorious opioids which may eventually damage your liver, kidney or other organs and severely affect your body's normal functions even leading to death.
• Offset side effects of other western treatment: such as chemotherapy, radiation and steroid use.

Cons (side Effects)

The hair thin sterile acupuncture needles will be inserted into your skin/musle layer at specific acupoints. When performed by a professionally trained and licensed acupuncturist, it is very safe with minimal side effects. The commonly seen side effects after treatment include: temporary muscle soreness, numbness or minor bruising at insertion points, drowsy or tiredness feeling, or lightheaded, etc. A UK study with a sample size of 9408 patients ( "Short term reactions to acupuncture ...." in Acupuncture in Medicine (2005, 23(3)) asked about the patients' reactions during or immediately after treatment by practitioners of their choice (a total of 638 different acupuncturists). 79% reported feeling "relaxed." Next, 33% felt "energized." (This is more than 100% already because patients could report more than one response.) Next, 24% reported feeling "tired or drowsy." Other "negative" feeling included temporary discomfort such as soreness, light-headed etc.