It
is to be noted that just like other therapeutic modalities, acupuncture
has its share of failures; not everybody responds to it. However,
it does not leave the patients burdened with many of the side
effects and suffering from the ineffective drugs and/or unsuccessful
surgeries.
Another
strength of acupuncture is that it has remarkably few side effects,
other than occasional minor bruising, infection and rare cases
of fainting. I have done about 5,000 plus procedures since 1996,
and have not had any significant problems. This contrasts sharply
with the potential harmful effect of most medicines we use in
modern medicine. It is now well documented that prescribed medications
are a very important cause of morbidity and mortality. However,
major problems may occur in untrained hands e.g. perforation of
internal organs, and epidemics of hepatitis have occurred in England
and Israel due to the use of unsterilized needles by unscrupulous
practitioners.
