“What happens if acupuncture hits a nerve?”
I am a 29 year old male. I want to know what happens if acupuncture hits a nerve?
15 Answers
You might feel an electric sensation
It might cause some pain if this happens. Your provider should be able to adjust needles for you to keep you comfortable during your treatment sessions.
then you will have nerve pain. it is not something that you would not notice, it is extremely sensational.
Nerve tissue is very rubbery, so there will be no damage to the nerve, but the patient may feel little electric sensation.
If an acupuncture needle hits a nerve you typically feel a sharp sensation for a moment. That is typically it.
You may feel what we call a zinger, which is a shock like feeling, but NO damage has been done to the nerve.
Sometimes you might feel a twinge if a needle hits a nerve, but the needles are coated to slide past nerves and capillaries, so it doesn't happen very often.
Mr. Anthony James Lorenzo
Acupuncturist
If acupuncture hits a nerve, you will likely feel an ouch. That's generally about it. I suppose nerve damage is in the realm of possibility, yet it is very unlikely.
You may be sore for a while, but then it will go away over time.
It is a part of the treatment to regulate nerve functions.
Acupuncture doesn’t typically hit nerves. What you may experience is a feeling of qi. Your bodies energy can feel powerfully electric sometimes. Other times it can feel heavy or warm. But, it is not the same as nerve pain.
I don't believe it should be practiced in a way that hits a nerve. There are several kinds of acupuncture. Chinese needles are larger and used more vigorously than the smaller gentler Japanese needles and approach. That is what I prefer to use. I have heard that dry needling which is usually done by physical therapists sometimes can hit a nerve.
It's okay, nothing will happen. But when acupuncture hits a nerve, you will feel an electric shock.
You may feel a sharp or burning sensation that will linger for a minute but otherwise, there will be little to no damage done to the nerve.
The answer is: nothing good.
Acupuncturists undergo thousands of hours of training on needle technique and anatomy specifically so we can avoid this occurrence.
If the needle gets close to a nerve, a patient might experience a short lived electrical sensation - like a pins and needles type feeling that propagates up or down from the needle site.
If the needle is inserted in to a nerve then the patient would experience sharp pain. Sometimes this pain will resolve with the removal of the needle, sometimes this pain will last for days or weeks until the damage is repaired.
Lastly, sometimes the damage is severe enough to cause lasting issues like pain or loss of motor control.
Like I mentioned earlier, acupuncturists undergo a lot of training in anatomy, in particular the anatomy around acupuncture points, specifically so this doesn't happen. Different points have different needling depths and insertion angles so that we can avoid getting a needle directly in to a nerve. I've set thousands of needles and have never directly hit nerve tissue. Sometimes we're close, sometimes we need or want to be close to nerves or nerve bundles, but we work pretty hard to avoid getting a needle directly in to nerves.
Acupuncturists undergo thousands of hours of training on needle technique and anatomy specifically so we can avoid this occurrence.
If the needle gets close to a nerve, a patient might experience a short lived electrical sensation - like a pins and needles type feeling that propagates up or down from the needle site.
If the needle is inserted in to a nerve then the patient would experience sharp pain. Sometimes this pain will resolve with the removal of the needle, sometimes this pain will last for days or weeks until the damage is repaired.
Lastly, sometimes the damage is severe enough to cause lasting issues like pain or loss of motor control.
Like I mentioned earlier, acupuncturists undergo a lot of training in anatomy, in particular the anatomy around acupuncture points, specifically so this doesn't happen. Different points have different needling depths and insertion angles so that we can avoid getting a needle directly in to a nerve. I've set thousands of needles and have never directly hit nerve tissue. Sometimes we're close, sometimes we need or want to be close to nerves or nerve bundles, but we work pretty hard to avoid getting a needle directly in to nerves.
