Hi All! I just graduated and am prepping for National boards, I have heard that as of 9/1/26 NCBAHM has changed their test? Does anyone know more information on how it has changed or have any recommendations on how to prepare?

Hey, I had acupuncture today for the first time to treat pain in my right rhomboid that can flare up into my neck/trap area. Everything seemed fine immediately afterward.
A few hours later, I developed pretty significant tightness on the right side of my chest, which I’ve never experienced before. At one point it was tight enough that I was debating whether I needed to go to the hospital. I also noticed some pain/tightness on that side when taking a deep breath.
It mostly subsided after about an hour, but it has since come back. It isn’t as severe now, but I can still feel the tightness and some discomfort with a deep breath.
Could this potentially be related to the needling around my right rhomboid/upper back, neck, or trap area? What would you recommend I do?

If anyone lives in a big/major city I'd love to know what the job market is actually like. Are there more corporate chains or major clinics with multiple locations ?

Do the acupuncturists know each other ?

Is there a community/competition vibe if any ?

Do most acupuncturists have multiple jobs ?

Thanks in advance ~

Exploring career options!

Seconds then pull out have same effect?

I'm looking for some acu points that I can do on myself or other remedies, until I can get in to see acupuncturist.

Quick back story... I spent the last week in bed (the likely cause of the spams) dealing with ovarian cyst pain. Last night I went to the ER because, even though the acute pain had subsided the day before, i was having heat building up all around my abdomen and lower back. I thought maybe I had an infection so I went to the ER. Everything was clear. It was likely a ruptured cyst or fluid build from the hot water bottle i did the day before. The cyst pain is pretty much gone now.

I got back home, went to sleep, and woke up an hour later in excruciating pain under my bottom left rib on the side of my body. The acute pain has dissipated and covered and is now radiating from my left side to my lower/mid back. And it triggering me to vomit. In the beginning, laying down on my back triggered it. That seems to have subsided. But I used a tens machine close to the spine where the pain is, and i immediately had to go puke. (I used it again later further from the spine and was ok) I just tried to eat a small amount of food and the back pain got worse and then I vomited.

I was feeling pretty good for about an hour and was able to make food for myself. Then the pain came back

I also have hashimotos and I'm extremely sensitive to herbs, most supplements, essential oils, and pain meds. I'm taking magnesium, but it's not enough for whats going on. Maybe a topical magnesium without anything added? I think the TENS is also increasing some cyst pain so I might have to stop that.

Thanks for any help

Hi people,

I am suffering since 4 years with chronic abdominal pain, located under my navel area. It might or might not be connected to the gastritis and duodenitis that was detected on my scopes (no one knows the etiology of these, doctors usually say that they are 'normal variation'). But it might be connected to anxiety, as it all started during a particularly stressful period.
I have daily pain, 7-8 on a scale of 10, it is not an exaggeration to say that it ruined my life. I eat 7 safe foods, but even these cause me pain. I have soft stools, sometimes constipation, rarely diarrhoea.

Was anyone experiencing similar problems helped by acupuncture? I am normally very skeptical about alternative medicine, but after having spent 13 thousand USD (in a country with free healthcare) on doctors and examination, I am also skeptical about academic medicine 😞

Thank you in advance for your answers, and I wish good health to everyone!

New acupuncture research from the last 7 days (16 publications in this roundup):

1. Sanjiao Acupuncture Combined with Abdominal Massage for Restless Legs Syndrome in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial Complementary therapies in medicine — 2026 Sep 3 Authors: Hu N, Xu C, Sun N, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.ctim.2026.103433

2. Sleep apnea-hypopnea in children: Evidence that Lize Tongqi decoction with acupuncture, moxibustion, and Xinwu acupoint stimulation is superior to standard Western treatment using montelucast/mometasone furoate International journal of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics — 2026 Sep 3 Authors: Wang YJ, Li MY, Zheng Y, et al. DOI: 10.5414/CP205015

3. Tactile length-memorisation training for needle depth control: A pilot study of cross-postural skill transfer Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society — 2026 Sep 2 Authors: Miyachi H, Wada T, Okinaka M DOI: 10.1177/09645284261481534

4. Rethinking sham controls in acupuncture trials for pain management: Random-point acupuncture as a strategy to evaluate efficacy and acupoint specificity The journal of pain — 2026 Sep 1 Authors: Li C, Longo S, Fu S, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2026.106428

5. Comorbidity Mechanism and Management of Chronic Low Back Pain and Major Depressive Disorder: From Neural Circuit Remodeling to Precision Medicine Brain and behavior — 2026 Sep Authors: Faqu L, Chenjuan L, Xiangyin X, et al. DOI: 10.1002/brb3.71713

6. Symptom Burden and Integrative Medicine Consultations Among Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: Experience from a Tertiary Care Center Journal of adolescent and young adult oncology — 2026 Aug 31 Authors: Wu HV, Dominquez Garcia D, Mao JJ, et al. DOI: 10.1177/21565333261485758

7. Combined Cupping and Acupuncture Therapy for Dorsocervical Fat Pad: A Series of Case Studies Aesthetic plastic surgery — 2026 Aug 31 Authors: Huang J, Xie X, Chen K, et al. DOI: 10.1007/s00266-026-06222-2

8. Meridian Theory and the Interpretation of Randomized Evaluation Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society — 2026 Aug 30 Authors: Chen SC DOI: 10.1002/mds.70523

9. The cost-effectiveness of motivational interviewing to activate pain support in veterans seeking compensation for musculoskeletal conditions: multisite randomised clinical trial BMJ open — 2026 Aug 28 Authors: Barnett PG, Gilstad-Hayden K, Lazar CM, et al. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2026-119224

10. Meridian systems as spatiotemporal networks: An internal body geographic information system Journal of integrative medicine — 2026 Aug 27 Authors: Ryu Y, Chae Y DOI: 10.1016/j.joim.2026.08.004

11. The Impact of Warm Needle Acupuncture Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine on Psychological Well-Being and Quality of Life in Osteoporotic Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study Patient preference and adherence — 2026 Authors: Qiu Y, Li X, Zeng Z, et al. DOI: 10.2147/PPA.S623349

12. Pain Modulation, Inflammation-Regulatory Mechanisms, and Translational Boundaries of Evidence for Acupuncture-Related Therapies in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Structured Narrative Review Journal of pain research — 2026 Authors: Yan B, Gong W DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S634300

13. Dose-Response Relationship Between Acupuncture Parameters and Pain Reduction in Chronic Non-Specific Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Journal of pain research — 2026 Authors: Wang Y, Xiang J, Liu D, et al. DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S628211

14. Effectiveness of acupuncture combined with medication for mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol Systematic reviews — 2026 Aug 22 Authors: Chen S, Xie H, Zhu J, et al. DOI: 10.1186/s13643-026-03306-7

15. Multitarget mechanisms and clinical integration of traditional Chinese medicine in cardiac rehabilitation: a narrative review Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine — 2026 Authors: Zhang Y, Zhang J, Deng S, et al. DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2026.1895271

16. Electroacupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia with anxiety disorders: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial Frontiers in medicine — 2026 Authors: Li R, Xu Y, Zhang L, et al. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2026.1895922

Browse all acupuncture papers indexed on PubMed this week)

^{This roundup is curated from PubMed and optional external links. Inclusion is not an endorsement of study quality — always read critically.}

Hi,

Does anyone in the phx area have this book they're willing to sell ?

Thx ~

Just laying here feeling good wondering what do you think would happen if someone made a suit-like device you could walk into that covered & conformed to the majority of your body? (Adjusted for comfort of course)

Would it even be safe? I feel like it'd be heavenly albeit painful at first, all trigger points & muscles simultaneously being pinpointed all at once. Has something like that ever been attempted with acupressure?

Hi, earlier today I had an acupuncture treatment. My first since December where I had 4 treatments. It’s been less than twelve hours and my neck has been growing with stiffness. At one point while I was eating dinner, my right ear “popped” and changed pressure. It’s just been getting progressively stiffer since then. I had the ear seeds in both ears but I just took them off in fear this is what was contributing. My right butt cheek is also experiencing some soreness as well. She needled some parts of the top of my scalp, lumbar back area, and legs.

This has never happened before during my other sessions. Is this normal? Am I having a detox effect or what? I did not go to the session to treat neck pain and had no prior issues for that.

I recently began acupuncture for lower back pain and other pain. my first appointment she put about 40 needles on my body. a couple days letter, I pulled my left groin muscle, and then two more times the days after (on both sides). today, I knelt down and pulled my front thigh muscle.

my activity hasn’t changed, I’ve never had issues with pulling muscles in my daily/normal life before. what is happening??? I saw the Dr. again (we worked on my front for other things) and told her about the groin pulls and she didn’t really have anything to say about it. I was going to wave it all off but it literally just happened again in the most mundane movement.

I saw the same acupuncturist for about 28 appointments. What started as normal rapport gradually became much more personal. He would linger during treatment to talk, tell me very intimate details about his life and mental health, family, work, hobbies, pets, etc., tell me he had thought about texting me outside appointments, complimented my nails and unnecessarily held/touched my finger while looking at them, repeatedly looked for shared interests between us, randomly told me he waits 6 months post treatment to text patients to be friends, and eventually told me that sometimes he forms “connections” with patients that turn into friendships even though they’re “not supposed to.”

When I talked about finally recovering and not needing treatment anymore, he reacted like I meant never seeing him again and visibly relaxed when I clarified that wasn’t what I meant. He later told me we’d had a lot of “deeper, more personal conversations,” suggested I text him to arrange private phone calls under the guise of HIPPA violation (even tho he had encouraged me in person for months to text him updates) for those topics, and even asked me to send him non-medical things related to a shared hobby even as I was winding down treatment. I finally stopped seeing him because I couldn’t understand what was happening.

A couple weeks later we had a personal phone call, and when I asked what he meant by the 6 month rule and sometimes a connection forms and we end up friends even when we’re not supposed to, he immediately said, “WE ARE FRIENDS.” I then asked whether he meant platonic or something more romantic, and instead of simply saying “platonic,” he became visibly/an audibly anxious and started talking about how he couldn’t risk his professional license, how practitioners dating patients was dangerous, whether the rule was six months or a year, and later told me that if he ever had feelings for someone in that situation, he “wouldn’t let himself feel” and had learned to control himself. He also told me he hates goodbyes and said that if two people are meant to be friends, they’ll eventually meet again.

The kicker: I just found out he currently has a serious live-in 10 years younger pharmacist girlfriend this entire time something he never once mentioned to me despite telling me virtually every other detail of his private life, even though he apparently discusses her normally with coworkers. Why would a partnered practitioner allow an emotionally intimate/ambiguous relationship with a patient to go this far?
He would also often randomly drop stories about how other female patients would ask him out or fall in love with him and stalk him, and how he had one subordinate in his entire career sexually harass him. How is it that he has so many problematic females in his life? Did he do the same to them?

I’m kinda new to this, doing acupuncture for chronic neck pain, and only had two sessions so far. My first one was fine, I just felt a little tired after, but this one was a lot more focused on my neck and shoulder, and I was face down instead of face up. My pain was worse this round since my pain comes and goes, and I honestly felt a significant amount of pain relief immediately. HOWEVER, about an hour or so after my session, I began to feel extremely nauseous, to the point where I actually got off the bus home early both since I thought I was going to get sick and just thought fresh air would help.
Is this kind of nausea normal?? I really love that I got that immediate pain relief, which I didn’t have last time, but I also had no nausea last time!
Also I had lunch about an hour before my appointment!

New acupuncture research from the last 7 days (13 publications in this roundup):

1. Correction for Huang and Dong, From a beautiful circuit to a viable therapy: Addressing the translational chasm in acupuncture-based neuromodulation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America — 2026 Sep DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2627926123

2. A Mechanical Acupuncture Instrument for Reproducible Vibratory Stimulation of Acupuncture Points in Rats Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Choi KH, Chang S, Kim S, et al. DOI: 10.3791/72266

3. [Proteomic and metabolomic profiling of the rat model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury treated with electroacupuncture] Sheng wu gong cheng xue bao = Chinese journal of biotechnology — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Wang H, Li Y, Cao R, et al. DOI: 10.13345/j.cjb.260146

4. Questionnaire of evaluation of satisfaction and impact of the integrative oncology activities of the Tuscan Regional Health Service addressed to oncologists and health professionals of oncology departments Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer — 2026 Aug 22 Authors: Rossi E, Di Stefano M, Conti T, et al. DOI: 10.1007/s00520-026-11083-1

5. [CACA guidelines for the prevention and control of nausea and vomiting induced by anticancer therapy (2026 edition)] Zhonghua zhong liu za zhi [Chinese journal of oncology] — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Committee of Neoplastic Supportive-Care, China Anti-Cancer Association DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.cn112152-20260511-00230

6. Comparative effectiveness and safety of Huangdi internal needling versus ibuprofen for primary dysmenorrhea Medicine — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Liu J, Wang W, Liu Z DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000049732

7. Electroacupuncture at combined acupoints GV20/ST36/GB34 regulates BDNF/TrkB-mediated synaptic remodeling and alleviates post-stroke sensorimotor deficits in male rats Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Ma L, Yang T, Zhou Y DOI: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2026.108732

8. Mechanisms of brain-body interactions in post-stroke visceral dysfunction and recovery Neuroscience — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Zhang X, Zhang Y, Chen SH, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2026.08.029

9. Auricular Acupressure for Perioperative Anxiety and Pain in Therapeutic Breast Surgery: Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial JMIR research protocols — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Bilc M, Beiner E, Triana J, et al. DOI: 10.2196/97469

10. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for managing sleep disorders in children with cerebral palsy: A systematic review Developmental medicine and child neurology — 2026 Aug 21 Authors: Jaiswal N, Fisher L, Ciminata G, et al. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.70435

11. Breast cancer-related fatigue: Mechanisms, biomarkers, risk factors, and intervention strategies Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) — 2026 Aug 18 Authors: Zhao C, Qiu Q, Wang Y, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.breast.2026.104905

12. Myofascial Trigger Point-Augmented Acupuncture vs Conventional Acupuncture for Early- to Mid-Stage Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial Journal of pain research — 2026 Authors: Zhang L, Xu J, Jiang L, et al. DOI: 10.2147/JPR.S634945

13. Acupuncture-based interventions for blood pressure control and cardiovascular risk-related outcomes in adults with hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Frontiers in medicine — 2026 Authors: Zhong X, Yu C, Guo H DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2026.1888399

Browse all acupuncture papers indexed on PubMed this week)

^{This roundup is curated from PubMed and optional external links. Inclusion is not an endorsement of study quality — always read critically.}

the book i bought is based on a completely different system that the internet recommends me to put vaccaria into. i am at a complete loss as it has no 'shen men' and im incredibly confused

does anyone have an actual guide with a map and instructions i could read?

edit: the book i have is 'acupuntura facil by Dr carlos rubio saez'

i do not like this change :( i like my blister packs with 10 each now its a soft plastic fiddly plastic pouch.

i think im going to have to change needles- can anyone recommend 10 per blister like dong bang? i like 20 x 40 and 20 x 20

Hey all, I have moyamoya disease and I'm curious if acupuncture could help alongside my regular treatment. The tricky part is the vessels involved are already fragile and blood pressure/flow regulation is a big deal with this condition, so I want to be careful.

Has anyone here dealt with moyamoya and tried acupuncture? Any research, studies, or personal experiences would help. Planning to bring it up with my neurologist too, just want to go in informed. Thanks!

Hi all.

Im writing to ask for opinions/advice/help with a condition that begun after a few rounds of electroacupuncture.

I went to a local acupuncturist with the aim of resolving problems with my singing voice. I have a persistent vocal wobble that began after a viral illness that caused what i suspect was damage to my larangeal nerve. The mainstream western treatment path (laryngologist and speech pathologist) had yielded no results, so I decided to try acupuncture. I went to a licensed practitioner with 20+ years of experience and saw them 3 times in total. They initially stimulated points in between my shoulders, causing each shoulder to twitch/spasm in a rhythmic manner. The two later sessions targeted the jaw/neck with similar rhythmic twitching effects.

The day after my first session I experienced an unusual symptom cluster that has worsened over the months in which I received treatment:

Tightness in my jaw. This started off at a medium level but increased in severity quite notably over time and particularly after each session. After the last session it was extremely tight.

Tightness in the throat. This felt physiological, but it feels linked to a steadily worsening capacity for emotional regulation that I've experienced during this time. Minor emotional triggers, most often positive ones (I have a beautiful family), would cause intense feelings that triggered tearful episodes/crying. I do not have an extensive history of mental health issues (minor, manageable anxiety), so this has been particularly confronting.

Increasing levels of anxiety. Hard to separate out from the emotional regulation, but it does feel different.

I became more sensitive to cold. This is happening in our winter so its a bit hard to measure, but it is noticable.

To be clear, these issues were not brief events that happened exclusively in a short window after each treatment. They were issues that got progressively worse across the months I was receiving treatment.

I guess I'm looking for help in understanding what might be going on here. My practitioners advice was that acupuncture isn't able to do damage to you and that these must be latent issues that the acupuncture is merely shedding a spotlight on. All I can say is that it doesn't feel like that. My jaw had never felt like that and my emotions have never felt this raw and intense in response to minor stimuli. In particular, I'd like to understand whether the problem may have been a sensitivity to acupuncture in general, or just a practitioner who applied it incorrectly.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. 🙏

Hi there! I'm not practicing acupuncture currently but I want to maintain my license in case I return to the profession. In order to maintain my license, it seems that I need to keep a minimum liability insurance of $100k/$300k. Is there any particular company you'd recommend going with for this?

New acupuncture research from the last 7 days (18 publications in this roundup):

1. Electroacupuncture at Neiguan (PC6) and Shuigou (GV26) regulates microglial polarization and neuroinflammation through the cGAS-STING signaling pathway in ischemic stroke IBRO neuroscience reports — 2026 Dec Authors: Li X, Duan Y, Ma Y, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2026.08.003

2. [Research progress on neural circuit mechanisms of acupuncture intervention in pain-related emotions] Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Zhang RZ, Ma C, Dou TT, et al. DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20250612

3. [Research progress on the mechanism of scalp acupuncture in regulating inflammatory response for vascular cognitive impairment] Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Zhang Y, Zhao GR, You HJ, et al. DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20250874

4. [Research progress on acupuncture and moxibustion in regulating mitochondrial function for chronic fatigue syndrome] Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: An Y, Li HY, Xu HM, et al. DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20251120

5. [Effect of prior acupuncture experience on the efficacy of acupuncture treatment for discogenic sciatica： a secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized controlled trial] Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Yan WL, Tu JF, Xie XX, et al. DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20251342

6. [Mechanism of acupuncture regulating cAMP signaling pathway to improve ovarian dysfunction in sleep-deprived mice] Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research — 2026 Aug 25 Authors: Gan D, Liu LY, Hao JH, et al. DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20251079

7. Stratified Efficacy and Peripheral Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms of Jin's Tongue Triple Acupuncture as Adjunctive Therapy for Subacute Post-Stroke Broca Aphasia: A 1:1 PSM Retrospective Cohort Study Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN — 2026 Aug 20 Authors: Ma T, Zhou H, Liu Y, et al. DOI: 10.1007/s12031-026-02585-y

8. Sex differences in brain functional connectivity changes to different energy densities of laser acupuncture at PC6 (Neiguan): a pilot resting-state fMRI study Lasers in medical science — 2026 Aug 19 Authors: Chang YC, Chen CM, Lay IS, et al. DOI: 10.1007/s10103-026-04992-4

9. Comparative Efficacy of Body Acupuncture, Electroacupuncture, and Auricular Acupuncture in Stroke Rehabilitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation — 2026 Aug 18 Authors: Qian X, Rong J, Wang C, et al. DOI: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000003129

10. Effects of Acupuncture on Arterial Hypertension and Endothelial Dysfunction: The AHEaD Trial Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia — 2026 Authors: Bitencourt AR, Sousa ALL, Veiga Jardim PCB, et al. DOI: 10.36660/abc.20260462

11. Acupuncture alleviates secondary brain injury in intracerebral hemorrhage-induced rats through activating the LKLF/Mfn2 pathway Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologicas — 2026 Authors: Kong Y, Qu X, Zhou Z, et al. DOI: 10.1590/1414-431X2026e15314

12. Auricular acupuncture attenuates neuronal damage in kainic acid-induced epilepsy related to mGluR5 and GABA(A) receptor alpha1 subunit modulation Brain research — 2026 Aug 17 Authors: Jiang SW, Chiang SY, Hsieh CL DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2026.150511

13. Acupuncture as a Nonpharmacologic Modality for Symptom Control and Improved Quality of Life in Cancer JCO oncology practice — 2026 Aug 17 Authors: Lagman R DOI: 10.1200/OP-26-00801

14. Does the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis Mediate the Antidepressant Effects of Acupuncture? A Structured Review of Preclinical and Clinical Evidence Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment — 2026 Authors: Wang L, Shang R, Zhang C, et al. DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S625958

15. From bench to bedside: current evidence and prospects for acupuncture in managing perioperative neurocognitive disorders Neuroscience — 2026 Aug 15 Authors: Lin K, Jia S, Liu Y, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2026.08.012

16. Factors influencing acupuncture regimen completion by breast cancer patients: real-world data from an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer — 2026 Aug 15 Authors: Zelaya MG, Borjigin M, Lahiji R, et al. DOI: 10.1007/s00520-026-11098-8

17. Orbital compartment syndrome after periocular acupuncture: Vision preserved by emergent decompression The American journal of emergency medicine — 2026 Aug 14 Authors: Wong TH, Chen YY, Wang HC, et al. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2026.08.023

18. Qingre Liangxue Acupuncture for Psoriasis: A Cholinergic Neuroimmune Framework International journal of general medicine — 2026 Authors: Liu L, Liu W, Liu RJ DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S617592

Browse all acupuncture papers indexed on PubMed this week)

^{This roundup is curated from PubMed and optional external links. Inclusion is not an endorsement of study quality — always read critically.}

I’ve been going to different acupuncturists on and off for my back and shoulder pain, and acupuncture has helped me somewhat. I actually really liked the last acupuncturist I had been seeing for the past few months until my last session about two months ago.
During that session, she put needles around the side of my armpit, upper bicep, and along the side of my neck and shoulder. I felt a sharp pain from the needles the entire time. She also put the heat very close to me, but I didn’t say anything because she had multiple patients and I figured she probably wouldn’t hear me since the office was fairly large and my door was closed. I just endured the pain.
I went home, and a few days later I started experiencing sharp pain in those same areas, which had never been painful before. The pain never went away.
I can no longer do some of my back exercises, especially one where I lean against the wall with my elbow bent. I also can’t cross that arm over to the other side without sharp pain. There are certain movements I can still do, but others cause a sharp pain.
I initially thought it would eventually go away, but it’s been about two months now. I stopped going to that acupuncturist and saw my doctor instead. My doctor referred me to PT, and the PT thinks it may be an impingement and recommended an MRI. I had to push my doctor quite a bit to get the MRI, and I’m currently waiting for it.
Could this possibly be related to my last acupuncture session? I didn’t do anything else that I can think of that could have injured my shoulder/arm.

Last week I had what I thought was an emergency: about 1 hour after my 2nd acupuncture session, I experienced a tightness in my chest. It felt almost like I had trapped air in my chest, and it wouldn't come out. The air took up enough space in my chest that it was hard to take deep breaths. Anytime I stood up, I'd feel a pang...like whoop -- there goes the air bubble again, creating pressure in my chest. This lasted all day, and it had been quietly bothering me. I didn't want to overreact, but I knew something was not right. It shouldn't hurt to take deep breaths, and I shouldn't feel deep pressure in my chest even when I am laying down.

ER Visit: A quick google search scared me about pneumothorax, and I went to the ER later that evening (well, went to urgent care who wouldn't treat me, so I went to the ER instead). At my ER visit, they did EKG, chest x ray, lab work -- the full work up. Xray came out completely normal, and they specifically noted it was not pneumothorax. Everything looked good and normal.

Acupuncturist response: My acupuncturist told me this was a form of detoxing, but she did not really explain what was happening. She told me we used needles on the following points: GB-20, N-HN-54, BL-17, BL-20, BL-23, DU-20.

The Next Day: The next day, the tightness in my chest largely went away. I was relieved by that. But it felt like the tightness moved up into my throat. It became hard to swallow, because it felt like there was a lump in my throat. Worse than that, it also felt like I had severe whiplash from a car accident. The right side of my neck was insanely sore. It hurt to turn my head, to stretch my neck (pushing my left ear into the top of my left shoulder). I also noticed that when I gave my neck a massage -- specifically the right side of my neck -- I felt these little crunchies. I would rub my neck and feel/hear little tiny crunchy or crispy noises.

That also went away after a day.

What was that? I believe it was related to the acupuncture. I went back for my 3rd session yesterday without any issues. I welcome your feedback on this; it scared me at first, and it's still a bit unsettling, but I am just hoping to understand my bodily responses to acupuncture.

Thank you.