acupuncture causing nerve pain/damage?

[montos]

Hello,

I've been getting acupuncture to treat my lower back pain. At my last treatment the doctor placed a needles at several locations on my legs and back.

The needle behind my right knee caused pain upon insertion and a lot of pain when he manipulated it. He took the needle out and replaced it and it appeared to be fine. Also the needle in my right ankle caused discomfort.

Shortly after the treatment I experianced pain at both sites and some odd sensations in my right foot and calf (warmth and numbness). The doctor (who is an MD as well as an acupuncturist)said it was nothing to be concerned about.

Has anyone had acupuncture cause nerve damage in such a way? The literature says it can cause "nerve damage" but no specifics are mentioned as to symptoms or location of needles.

Anyone experience something similar?

thanks

[jitteryjade]

I have planter faciitis on my right foot and I decided to give accunpunture a try.. I had 2 sessions twice a week for about 1 month and I was feeling quite confident about it and happy with the results until after 1 session I noticed quite bad swelling around my ankle on the left side of my right foot, I showed my partner and he even agreed that it looked swollen. My foot definately wasn't swollen before the session as I would have most certainly noticed it as it was quite noticeable. I went back the following week and asked the accupuncturist about it and he denied that it would have been caused by accupuncture, he said that it was most likely something else, it just seemed very strange to me that it wasn't swollen before that session and after it was.. I showed my family doctor that has known me my whole life and he even said that it looked like an accupuncture needle caused the swelling... It has been at least 2 months and it is still swollen and I also experience weird sensations from time to time in my foot.. I feel quite annoyed as my parents and I have spent over $1000 on accunpuncture treatments to try and fix my foot but I honestly think its done more harm than good, instead of fixing my foot it has made it worse and the apperance of it has changed and im worried that the swelling my never go away..

[Paxiled]

Well, it's odd one treatment would do that, but the rule of natural healing is you get worse before you get better as you go back through the steps that got you where you are.  When you release stored toxins, obviously you get sicker, but once they're flushed out, you start to get better.  That's the theory, anyway.

[Wess72]

I have suffered from severe siatic issue from a herniated disc.  I have tried everything.  Recently I went for a deep tissue massage as well as acupuncture.  When the treatment was over, I couldn't walk.  I was overcome with sever low back pain and numbness in my rt leg combined with surges of hot sensations and burning.  I spent three days in and out of the ER and put on meds to curb the pain.  The third day in the ER the pain and burning sensation was so bad I went into shock and became paralyzed for approx 20 min, very scary.  Needless to say that was two days ago, all the pain and burning has gone and I have little to no low back pain.  The siatic symptoms are gone completely.  I've been suffering with this pain for almost 8 months, this new found "feel good" feeling is making me nervous any thoughts??

[yogaman275]

I had acupuncture for lower back pain with needles inserted at the top of the back of the leg, back of the knee and back of ankle.  I had severe pain from one needle on the first session and on the second session from two needles.  However, after the second session I also had stiffness and a throbbing pain near my hip near the point of insertion one of the needles that hurt severely.  I had had no pain before.  It was so bad I refused to carry on with treatment.  Its been four months now and the pain if anything is worse.  Its not a sharp throbbing pain now but a constant dull ache that some days is unbearable.  I get stiffness extending the leg forwards. Stretching helps but it won't go away.  My back hasn't improved a lot but the hip pain is almost as bad as theback pain now.  I would say to anyone thinking of acupuncture for back pain - forget it.  Stick to physio excercises.

[ana360]

I just want to cry. I had acupuncture on my back, legs and feet with "deep needling" it's been a week and I have pin and needles from my feet to my knees and burning pain from my feet to my low back. It really gets bad at night and its so difficult to sleep.
I don't know what to do, going back to the acupuncturist next tuesday. What should I do?

[JPF111]

Hi I see this was posted a couple years ago, but I have the exact same symptoms from a new accupunturist, and was wondering how long it took for you to get back to normal?