Am I the only one it hurts? (Acupuncture)

Member Name: Tracy_1127

Product:	Acupuncture
Date:	18/05/09 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none for me

Disadvantages: hurts, doesn't work

Acupuncture originated in China and is now used worldwide as a means of relieving pain and illness. The evidence for acupuncture is not conclusive and there are those who swear by it and those who think it's a load of old hooey. I have to admit I initially thought it sounded plausible, the Chinese style acupuncture works by the therapist inserting needles at certain meridian points around the body which should unblock any stagnant energy (qi) and relieve a variety of symptoms such as aches and pains, headaches, tension, sickness, insomnia, appetite problems, menstrual problems and the list just goes on and on.

The reason I thought it might work is not because I believe in blocked energy but more because most of the meridian points are also where we are prone to getting knots in muscles. I've had 3 different experiences of acupuncture but not all were Chinese style.

The first time I encountered acupuncture was through a physiotherapist. Now this isn't Chinese style it's called dry needling and doesn't use the meridians. Dry needling uses the same type of needles inserted in the same way but directly into a trigger point. Trigger points are essentially knots in the muscles and if you deactivate them it can produce instant pain relief and a relaxing of the muscle they are contained in.

I had a couple of needles inserted into my back by this physiotherapist and I have to say I didn't feel them go in which seems to be the normal response nor did I feel when she moved the needles around to see if the area had relaxed and I also felt nothing when she removed them. Unfortunately a few sessions of this didn't do any good and my back problems continued.

The next time I had acupuncture was late last year. Still suffering with the same back pain and muscle problems I went to see an Osteopath who also used acupuncture. After my first experience of it I was confident it wouldn't hurt and I wouldn't feel a thing. I was completely calm and the Osteopath explained I wouldn't feel the needles as such just a tapping when they were inserted. She planned to use Chinese style acupuncture rather than dry needling.

The first needle was a real eye opener for me. She started in the low back and every needle she inserted felt just like that. I could feel each needle as a needle and it was like having lots of injections done. I told her this and she said some people do actually feel it more than others and if any of the needles continued to be sharp after they'd been in for a few minutes they would have to come out.

This wasn't very helpful really because she still had some to put in my upper back, shoulders, hips, backs of knees and ankles! The shoulder needles were ok and didn't hurt as much as the low back ones but when it came to the hips the first one hurt so much I could hardly stop myself from contracting the muscles around the second hip to prevent the needle going in. The ones in the backs of my knees were sharp and made me feel a bit queasy but the ones in my ankles were fine.

After a few minutes the sharpness went off and I was left with deep aches everywhere and when the Osteopath twiddled with the needles a few times it was a bit painful but not awful. As she removed them I was so relieved I didn't care it was sharp again.

I went through this a few times to no avail. My qi was clearly not the problem! After a few sessions and no improvements the Osteopath said it probably wasn't going to help me so we stopped.

Just recently I was offered some dry needling on my lower back by a different physiotherapist and I hesitated then decided to try it. Thinking about the first time I had acupuncture I decided this would be fine.

It was worse than the second time! Only a few needles were used thankfully and the first three felt like needles and were sharp but the fourth was so painful I nearly jumped off the table. It hurt so much if it had been the first one he inserted I would have told him to remove it and left. However as I already had three more in my back I couldn't do much about it and remained laid there for 20 minutes with deep aches and sharp pains while he came several times to twiddle with the needles to check for release. Each time he touched the needles it hurt all over again and frankly made my back pain worse for days afterwards.

I've decided not to go through it again seeing as the previous attempts have not helped and I've found it so painful for nothing. My experience of acupuncture doesn't seem to be the usual one as most people don't feel the needles as needles and only feel very slight discomfort when the needles are moved by the therapist.

The needles are very fine so why I feel them as I do I have no idea. There is a complete lack of information online about those of us who find acupuncture painful and those of us it doesn't help. I didn't get any relief from my various sessions and styles of acupuncture and I can honestly say if offered it again I'd rather not.

I don't recommend it at all after my experiences and give it one star because I have to rate it.

Summary: Not for me