Is acupuncture safe?

Acupuncture is one of the safest medical treatments, both conventional and complementary, on offer in the UK. Two surveys conducted independently of each other and published in the British Medical Journal in 2001 concluded that the risk of a serious adverse reaction to acupuncture is less than 1 in 10,000. This is far less than many orthodox medical treatments. One survey was of traditional acupuncturists and the other of doctors who practice acupuncture. A total of 66,000 treatments were reviewed, altogether with only a handful of minor and transient side effects recorded. 

A 2003 survey of 6,000 patients of acupuncture produced almost identical figures.

There are very few side effects from acupuncture when practiced by a fully qualified practitioner of traditional acupuncture.

Trish is a licensed Acupuncturist (Lic.Ac.) and member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) who ensure that all members have a BSc (Hons) degree in Chinese medicine, traditional acupuncture and Western biomedical sciences and are compliant with the BAcC code of safe practice and code of professional conduct. BAcC members will have the letters MBAcC after their name.