Nerve damage after acupuncture?

It is pretty much impossible for an acupuncture needle to penetrate the bone and from my own self-experimentation hitting the bone with a needle is not painful. To be clear though in normal clinical procedure the needles should never touch the bone in the first place as the combination of proper technique and basic anatomy more or less make it a non-issue.

While it is possible to hit the smaller capillaries though that would not account for the prolonged discomfort. It is extremely unlikely the needle tip broke and unless you were moving quite dramatically when the needle was in also highly unlikely the needle bent.

Unless the acupuncturist was using a very thick needle and doing a great deal of manipulation of the needle actual nerve damage is exceedingly unlikely.

You can also read other responses here.

I’ve never had a needle break or heard of it happening. Not a single of my teachers or peers has ever had it happen -that reflects centuries (in combined years not linear time…) of experience which in turn reflects the use of millions or even tens of millions needles.

Your acupuncturist should have noticed a broken needle or bent needle.

You’d need to ask a radiologist or other medical doctor what sort of imaging would be appropriate if you decide you want to get something done. As for determining whether there is nerve damage (again I really doubt it) you’d probably need to see a neurologist.

It is possible that when you jumped or jerked in reaction to the needle that shifted the way your bulging disk is oriented or strained some tissue which in turn changed the pressure on the disk. So in effect it was the spastic reaction you had to the needle that would be much more likely to account for your symptoms that the needle itself. That would be my best interpretation of what happened. I’d suggest trying acupuncture again, ironic as that might sound.

At the end of the day you have a bulging disc and this can easily explain all of your symptoms - certainly far more easily than anything to do with the acupuncture. You can do a nerve conduction test to confirm - that along with an xray or MRI.

The truth is back and nerve pain is very commonly treated with acupuncture (particularly well with acupuncture, cupping and tuina which a fully trained acupuncturist should practice). Your other options are lots of roaming around with epidurals, PT and then eventually surgery all of which carry an incredible amount of risk compared to acupuncture.

I do think the spasm you experienced and the tension that invoked was fairly likely to irritate the bulge. Remember that you fairly rarely feel nerve pain at the impingement site but further down the nerve - so through the buttocks, down further in the leg, possibly even in the feet depending on the nerve branch.

One question I do have - when you say “my body just jumped on the bench” - what do you mean? Were you sitting down when you had acupuncture, or lying down? If sitting, why? And is your “acupuncturist” a fully trained Chinese Medicine practitioner - or someone from a different medical specialty (MD, PT, DC, etc.) who practices acupuncture?

My guess is that until you resolve the disc bulge you won’t experience a change in the nerve pain.

And I’m with @stephen on this, I’ve never heard of a needle breaking off inside of someone - the needles are essentially too thin to break. I think if you took one and bent it back and forth and continued that for awhile you would see how unlikely it is. They are just too flexible.

There are some cases in China, but this is from wildly aggressive techniques that a very small subset of practitioners use and usually only with complicated conditions within a hospital setting. In the west, I’ve never heard of this, ever.

I’ve never had a patient (even in acute pain with spasm activity) jump or even feel more than a mild sensation. This is in many ways the difference between fully trained Chinese Medicine practitioners and those of other medical professions. There is no comparison. While there are undoubtedly some practitioners who are deeply trained in both eastern and western medicine and can apply both well - they are very few and far between. The way a PT will needle is all too often very different from the way an acupuncturist will needle - in techniques, needle gauge, and in points chosen.

I could be wrong, but if you read through the numerous posts on here where people were thinking they had some type of nerve damage from “acupuncture” - none of them were fully trained Chinese Medicine practitioners - all were physiotherapists or other health professionals utilizing some aspect of “acupuncture”. I’m not saying that it is impossible, it’s just extremely unlikely with a fully trained acupuncturist - particularly in countries like the US where there is extensive licensure requirements.

If there was some sort of tissue damage - again the real fix would be to actually fix your issues. But generally speaking muscle/nerve irritation can last for 12 weeks or more.

If he was needling Du 2, it would be pretty much impossible to even touch the nerve. Needling in the foramen (points would be UB 32-UB 35) however it is possible with a long enough needle. I still think it is much more likely your symptoms reflect your bulging disk.

Nerve damage from an acupuncture needle is extremely unlikely given the description, even with moving with the needle in. Nerve damage can resolve itself anywhere from 6 months to 2 years time.