Which one is bad for the body, acupuncture or massage and bone setting?

I have been working in the primary physiotherapy department for almost eight years, and this question has been asked by patients no less than a hundred times. In fact, as long as it is performed in a formal medical institution and by qualified practitioners, whether it is acupuncture or massage and bone setting, it will not cause additional harm to the body. If you really want to talk about the problem, most of them fall into the pitfalls of informal operations. Both have the possibility of capsizing. There is no saying that one is more harmful to the body than the other.

I just received a doctor last week from a 62-year-old Aunt Zhang. I heard the "physiotherapist" at the health center at the entrance of the community said that acupuncture can radically cure her old cold legs. She spent more than 1,000 to apply for the card ten times. After the first time, her knee was so painful that she couldn't get off the ground. The second time The sky was swollen like a dough bun. When I came over for an MRI, I discovered that the person who performed the acupuncture did not touch the anatomical position accurately. The needle penetrated the joint cavity and brought in bacteria, which induced inflammatory edema in the synovial membrane. It took three days of fluid infusion to subside. Do you think this is a problem with acupuncture itself? To put it bluntly, the operator doesn't even have a professional license and dares to do it without practicing the basic skills.

On the other hand, there are many cases of problems caused by massage and bone setting. Last month, I received a 22-year-old boy who suffered from stiff neck and pain for two days. He asked the master of the pedicure shop downstairs to crack his neck. The master cracked it twice. The same day, he felt that his left arm was so numb that he could not lift it. It was found that the cervical facet joints were misplaced and pressed on the nerve roots. It took a week of traction to relieve the problem. This is not the fault of the bone setting. The master didn't even ask him whether he had any basic questions about his cervical spine, let alone let him take a X-ray to check.

Among the patients we come into contact with on a daily basis, there are indeed many people who have their own biases. Some old aunts who have been undergoing acupuncture and conditioning all year round feel that bone setting is too "violent" and they often pull their necks and waists. It is scary to watch, and it is definitely more likely to hurt the body.； There are also some young people who often come for cervical spine adjustment. They feel that the soreness and swelling will last for a day or two after acupuncture. They may also experience needle fainting or needle stagnation. On the contrary, it is not as comfortable as immediately after bone setting, and the risk is lower. In fact, these opinions are all based on my own experience and do not get to the core of the problem.

To be honest, the risk points of the two types of operations are inherently different. The risks of acupuncture are mostly concentrated in organ damage, local infection, and needle fainting caused by improper acupuncture. Special parts such as acupuncture points on the chest and back, and around the eyes, which are just a few millimeters away, may puncture the lungs or eyeballs, which requires extremely high anatomical skills of the operator.； The risks of massage bone setting are mostly concentrated on joint dislocation and soft tissue strain caused by violent operations. In severe cases, it may even cause vertebral artery dissection caused by improper cervical spine bone setting. This requires the operator to conduct imaging evaluation in advance and rule out contraindications such as osteoporosis, intervertebral disc prolapse, and bone and joint tuberculosis before starting the procedure.

To use an inappropriate analogy, if you ask which one is more likely to injure someone, a kitchen knife or scissors, is there any standard answer? The key is to see whether the person holding the tool has received professional training and whether it follows operating specifications. If you really need treatment, don't go to a small shop with no qualifications for cheap. Go to a regular hospital first to see a doctor to evaluate what kind of treatment is suitable for your situation. If you follow the doctor's advice, you will basically avoid any pitfalls.