DIY Acupuncture
-
SUMMARY: We describe a middle-aged woman who inserted a sewing needle into her spinal cord in an attempt at performing her own acupuncture. Reports of neurologic injury are rare in the literature, despite the widespread use of acupuncture. This is the first case we have identified involving spinal cord injury from self-performed acupuncture.
A middle-aged woman presented to our emergency department stating that she had been performing her own acupuncture at home and had lost 1 of the needles. She stated that the treatment was for chronic neck pain. On further questioning, we learned that she had been unable to retrieve a needle placed in the midline of the upper cervical region posteriorly, with the end of the needle no longer palpable.
The patient confessed to having no formal training in acupuncture but had heard of its benefits through her friends. Home hand-sewing needles had been used in her attempt at self-therapy.
On examination, the puncture site showed a clean entry point at the midline upper neck. The neurologic examination showed a slight decrease in left-arm power (4/5) and altered sensation over the left C5–C8 dermatomes. Examination of the right lower limb and bilateral lower limbs revealed no abnormality.
Initial investigation was performed with conventional radiographs. These showed a large sewing needle in the posterior spinal soft tissues with the tip within the spinal canal (Fig 1). A combination of frontal and lateral projections indicated an intradural needle tip with probable cord involvement.
The patient was subsequently taken to the operating room, where the needle was uneventfully removed with the patient under general anesthesia. Postoperative neurologic examination showed improvement in the patient's status, with little in the way of residual neurologic deficit. Prophylactic antibiotics were administered because of the potential contaminated puncture. No further intervention was required by the clinical team. Because of the unusual circumstances, involvement of the social work team was initiated.
On the first postoperative day, the patient underwent MR imaging examination to document the presence and extent of any cord injury. This study showed relatively minor cord edema and a small amount of cord hemorrhage (Figs 3 and 4). The patient made an uneventful postoperative recovery and remains well.
-
SUMMARY: We describe a middle-aged woman who inserted a sewing needle into her spinal cord in an attempt at performing her own acupuncture. Reports of neurologic injury are rare in the literature, despite the widespread use of acupuncture. This is the first case we have identified involving spinal cord injury from self-performed acupuncture.
A middle-aged woman presented to our emergency department stating that she had been performing her own acupuncture at home and had lost 1 of the needles. She stated that the treatment was for chronic neck pain. On further questioning, we learned that she had been unable to retrieve a needle placed in the midline of the upper cervical region posteriorly, with the end of the needle no longer palpable.
The patient confessed to having no formal training in acupuncture but had heard of its benefits through her friends. Home hand-sewing needles had been used in her attempt at self-therapy.
On examination, the puncture site showed a clean entry point at the midline upper neck. The neurologic examination showed a slight decrease in left-arm power (4/5) and altered sensation over the left C5–C8 dermatomes. Examination of the right lower limb and bilateral lower limbs revealed no abnormality.
Initial investigation was performed with conventional radiographs. These showed a large sewing needle in the posterior spinal soft tissues with the tip within the spinal canal (Fig 1). A combination of frontal and lateral projections indicated an intradural needle tip with probable cord involvement.
The patient was subsequently taken to the operating room, where the needle was uneventfully removed with the patient under general anesthesia. Postoperative neurologic examination showed improvement in the patient's status, with little in the way of residual neurologic deficit. Prophylactic antibiotics were administered because of the potential contaminated puncture. No further intervention was required by the clinical team. Because of the unusual circumstances, involvement of the social work team was initiated.
On the first postoperative day, the patient underwent MR imaging examination to document the presence and extent of any cord injury. This study showed relatively minor cord edema and a small amount of cord hemorrhage (Figs 3 and 4). The patient made an uneventful postoperative recovery and remains well.
@George-K said in DIY Acupuncture:
The patient confessed to having no formal training in acupuncture but had heard of its benefits through her friends. Home hand-sewing needles had been used in her attempt at self-therapy.
Crazy!!!
(But, if I read the article correctly, she did not have neck pain afterward LOL)
-
I am curious if that woman has received any acupuncture training.
