BMJ 2001;323:467-468 ( 1 September )

Editorials

The safety of acupuncture

Acupuncture is safe in the hands of competent practitioners

Papers pp 485, 486

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

For many patients attracted to complementary medicine its safety has been one of its principal appeals. Complementary methods, including acupuncture, are seen as less invasive, more natural, and less liable to adverse effects than more orthodox forms of treatment. Critics of complementary medicine have, however, often castigated it as being dangerous, sometimes in the same breath as ridiculing complementary methods for their lack of effectiveness and scientific support. For many years, certainly until the mid-1980s, these debates were little more than exchanges of usually entrenched and unwavering opinion on either side.¹ Now we begin to have some evidence.

The early literature on the safety of acupuncture consisted entirely of case reports. Rampes and James summarised all case reports between 1966 and 1993, finding 395 instances of complications.² Many were minor, such as bruising or fainting, but 216 were serious, including several cases of pneumothorax and injury to the spinal cord. Only one death due . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

cost-effectiveness counts

Regina Stroebele
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2001 [Full text]

Harm comes in many forms.

Tim Wilson
bmj.com, 3 Sep 2001 [Full text]

Attributable Risk a better concept than Adverse Effect

James K Rotchford
bmj.com, 16 Sep 2001 [Full text]