Complaints & connections · borters.ch
A traditional method with mixed evidence — it shows effect for some kinds of pain.
Also known as: acupuncture · needle therapy · TCM · needling
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
In acupuncture, very fine needles are placed at defined points along the so-called meridians. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the idea is that this harmonises the flow of the life energy Qi; in Western terms it is described as a stimulus to nerves and chemical messengers. It is traditionally used for relaxation and to support people in pain.
Blood thinning, osteoporosis, cortisone over a longer period, a tumour illness, a pregnancy, a pacemaker, a fresh injury. This information changes the approach — and it is only taken into account if it is mentioned.
Four to six sessions are usual, then take stock together: what has changed, what has not, and how would one notice? A fixed checkpoint protects against treatments that simply carry on.
Fever, unintended weight loss, constant pain at night, new weakness or numbness, blood in stool or urine: that belongs looked at by a doctor first, whatever treatment one chooses.
Basic insurance as a rule pays nothing here. Depending on the supplementary insurance and the recognition of the practitioner, part is reimbursed — a phone call beforehand saves surprises.
Needles are used once and taken from sterile packaging. A reddened, painful puncture site after one or two days belongs shown — it is rare, but it happens.
Before the first session, write down two weeks: how strong, how often, what helps, what bothers. Without this starting point one cannot say later whether anything has changed — with fluctuating complaints memory deceives.
A course usually runs to six to twelve sessions over six to eight weeks; in chronic pain it is judged after the sixth session whether it is worth going on. In large reviews of back, neck and head pain and knee osteoarthritis, complaints fall by more than in the comparison groups, and part of that is still measurable at twelve months. Whether the needle position is what decides is answered differently by different groups.
The needle sets a stimulus that travels through the nerve into the spinal cord and the brain; a release of the body’s own pain substances and changes in pain-processing areas have been measured. What it does not do: remove a cause — arthritis stays, a disc prolapse too. It is judged by the complaints, not by the imaging. With blood thinning, a pacemaker or in pregnancy this is discussed beforehand.
Many describe a marked heaviness and a great need for sleep after the session. It is worth not putting the appointment right before a demanding task.
A temporary strengthening for some hours to two days is often described. If it lasts longer or new complaints appear, that belongs reported back — not sat out.
Pinpoint bruises and brief bleeding are the most commonly described side effect. Under blood thinning they occur more often — that belongs said beforehand.
A drop in circulation with pallor, sweating and nausea does occur, above all on an empty stomach and while sitting. Eating something beforehand and being treated lying down prevents it.
Increasing breathlessness or a stabbing chest pain after needles in the area of chest, shoulder or upper back, and redness, swelling and fever at a needle point. Both are very rare and both can be treated.
Under blood-thinning treatment bruises and small bleeds occur more easily. That does not speak against the treatment, but it does speak for a gentler execution — and for saying so beforehand.
Very low platelets or strongly weakened defences are reasons to do without needles or to be especially careful.
With a raised sugar small puncture sites heal less well, especially on the feet. There the work is more restrained.
No blood value measures this treatment. The values listed here stand for caution — they change the approach when they are abnormal.
A drop in circulation with pallor, sweating and nausea occurs almost only on an empty stomach and while sitting. A small bite beforehand and being treated lying down takes the ground from it.
Having drunk enough lessens dizziness and headache afterwards. That water flushes something out afterwards is a description and not a demonstrated effect — it is sensible anyway.
When a treatment works on muscles, tendons or fascia, the recovery needs building material. That holds for every method that concerns the moving apparatus.
Small bruises at the puncture sites are expected. Anyone who gets strikingly many should have clotting, platelets and the supply of vitamin C and K looked at once — and always mention blood thinning beforehand.
Not a remedy for acupuncture but a note on the order of things: where tiredness, headache or dizziness are being treated, a look at ferritin and B12 beforehand is worth it. A cause found saves many sessions.
The best-studied explanation: needling releases the body’s own opioids, and the effect can be cancelled with an opioid blocker. That explains the pain relief — not the choice of points, since sham points work almost as well in studies.
Touch, attention and a quiet half hour release oxytocin and lower the sympathetic tone. That is not a lesser mechanism but an honestly named one — and it holds for any treatment in which someone brings time.
Circulatory reactions occur, especially at the first session. A small meal one to two hours before makes them rarer.
The evidence differs by complaint: strongest for chronic pain, post-operative nausea and tension headache, thin for much else. Sham acupuncture works almost as well in studies — which says something about the points, not about the effect.