How safe is acupuncture? Recent news from Berkhamsted acupuncturist Sean Heneghan

 

Of any health treatment a question that’s of critical importance is ‘Is it safe?’ So it’s reassuring for anybody having acupuncture or thinking about having acupuncture that acupuncture is one of the safest health treatments available here in the UK

According to The British Acupuncture Council’s factsheet on the safety of acupuncture:

 

'Two surveys conducted independently of each other and published in the British Medical Journal in 2001 concluded that the risk of a serious adverse reaction to acupuncture is less than 1 in 10,000. This is far less than many orthodox medical treatments. One survey was of traditional acupuncturists and the other of doctors who practise acupuncture. A total of 66,000 treatments were reviewed altogether, with only a handful of minor and transient side effects recorded.A 2003 survey of 6,000 patients of acupuncture produced almost identical figures.'

 

In addition and according to Mark Bovey, head of the Acupuncture Research Resource Centre (ARRC):

“The best European scientific studies of acupuncture adverse events reported no fatalities in three million treatments”.

 

One of the things people often ask about with acupuncture is what needles are used, are they sterile, and how does that process work?

In my practice which would be standard across the UK amongst British Acupuncture Council members, single use sterile individually wrapped needles are used and then disposed of. This means each needle is wrapped in sterile packaging, used once on you and then put into a medical sharps bin and then later destroyed, this means there is no risk of cross contamination from an acupuncture needle. Acupuncture needles are thin, flexible stainless steel needles that bear no resemblance to what most people’s experience of needles has been, namely a standard injection syringe. For people that haven’t had acupuncture it’s often surprising to hear that when having acupuncture, needles are often retained for around 20 minutes and many people drift into a very relaxed state during that period, so it’s not only safe, it’s also for many people a deeply relaxing experience.

If you have any questions about acupuncture or you’d like to book treatment please feel free to contact me on 07717 515 013 or email me at sean@seanheneghan.com