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

Let me give you some reassurance - as long as they are performed in regular medical institutions and by practitioners with corresponding qualifications, acupuncture and massage will not cause additional damage to the body. There is no such thing as "which one is worse". When it comes to risks, both have different safety hazards under non-standard operations.

I have been doing rehabilitation physiotherapy for almost 9 years, and I have encountered quite a few accidents caused by non-standard operations. Two years ago, I treated a young man in his early 20s. He followed a short video to learn how to perform Zusanli injection at home for health care. He was not sure of the depth and angle of the needle insertion, and one needle directly penetrated the common peroneal nerve. He could not lift his ankle and was numb for almost three weeks before he slowly recovered. ； There are also patients who come to deal with acupuncture point infections. They all go to unqualified small clinics to get acupuncture, and the instruments are not properly sterilized. The site where the acupuncture is done is red, swollen and painful for several days. There is even an uncle who went to a private health center to get acupuncture points on the chest and back. The needle was inserted too deep and penetrated the pleura, causing pneumothorax and was sent to the emergency room overnight. But these problems essentially have nothing to do with acupuncture itself. Under normal operation, disposable sterile needles are used. Practitioners know the angle, depth, and contraindications of each acupuncture point. At most, there will be a slight soreness and "deqi" feeling when inserting, which will disappear in half a day, and there will be no additional harm at all.

In comparison, many people think that massages that are "safer without breaking the skin" have a higher chance of getting into trouble. Last month, an aunt in her 50s came over and said she had neck pain. She went to the massage shop at the entrance of the community to relax. The master came up and cracked her neck hard to "reset" it. After doing it, she felt dizzy and sick on the spot and couldn't stand. A X-ray was taken and it was found that it was a misalignment of the small joints of the cervical spine. It took less than half a month to heal. There was also a young man who was in the acute stage of lumbar protrusion. He didn't know that he couldn't press his waist violently at this time, so he found a "master" to massage his waist hard, which directly pressed the protruding nucleus pulposus even harder, compressing the cauda equina nerve. In the end, he had to do surgery to solve the problem. Many people think that massage is just "kneading it hard". In fact, there are no fewer methods than acupuncture. For example, pressing too much pressure on the carotid sinuses on both sides of the neck can really cause syncope. Old people with osteoporosis may even suffer from lumbar compression fractures if their waists are too stressed.

Many patients often ask me, is acupuncture more risky because it is invasive? In fact, it is not necessarily true. For example, in patients with severe cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, the cervical vertebra has obvious disc herniation that compresses the nerves. At this time, the risk of blindly performing cervical massage is much higher than the safety risk of a few needles. ； Some patients think that if the massage intensity is light, nothing will happen. However, if the practitioner does not understand the basic anatomy, even a shoulder rub may cause damage to the trapezius muscle.

To put it bluntly, there is really no need to worry about whether acupuncture or massage is "bad". What should be more important is to choose the people and institutions that operate it. If you choose a small shop in Yeluzi with no qualifications, even a shoulder massage project worth more than ten yuan may be a trap. If you really feel uncomfortable, seek a regular doctor for evaluation first, and choose a conditioning method that suits you. There will basically be no problems.