“I have numbness after my acupuncture session. What should I do?”
I recently had 10 sessions of acupuncture on my left forearm starting at the elbow area to my hand approx 10 needles and heat for 20 minutes each. This was done to help my tendons, which were tight and giving me a lot of pain and restrictions to hands. He said I had enough for now and stopped. It has been over a week since my last session and my arm is mildly painful and feels almost numb and rubbery . It's very on going and very present all the time! Will this go away?? Why is it feeling this way? What can do to help it along?
Female
Complaint duration: 10days
Medications: No
Conditions: Shortened tendons
13 Answers
Have a PCP look at your injuries.
It's possible that that acupuncturist did too much at once and that's why your arm feels almost numb and rubbery. When I apply local treatment, I don't usually use more than 3-5 needles at a time. More than that is usually overwhelming. When too much is done, the subsequent feeling will subside within a week (similar to doing a really tough workout). If it isn't already alleviated, you can try applying some heat and doing some light exercises.
Hi, some patients may have residual feeling of needling after acupuncture treatment. It usually will go away within 3-10 days. Please apply heat pad or warm towel on the area that you feel numb and mild pain. It should go away after the warm massage. If not, please contact the acupuncturist who treated you to take the issue.
Sounds like someone was a little too aggressive or was careless and may have aggravated some nerves. There should not be any numbness after a treatment, or added pain that continues past a day. My feeling is the practitioner you saw was not a TCM provider. I would see one trained in TCM or traditional Asian medicine in the future. Some PoSumOn oil and muscle work with guasha may be all you needed. And should help now. Hope you recover soon.
Hi there,
Please see your regular physician for a proper diagnosis of your condition, and get a recommendation and referral. Please go back to your acupuncturist and explain your condition. Your acupuncturist should be able to explain why based on the treatments.
Please see your regular physician for a proper diagnosis of your condition, and get a recommendation and referral. Please go back to your acupuncturist and explain your condition. Your acupuncturist should be able to explain why based on the treatments.
It sounds like your acupuncturist was relaxing the tendons, so I would expect those sensations will pass in time. But I would suggest you contact your acupuncturist, give him the symptoms, and ask him your questions.
I am assuming that before your acupuncture sessions for tight tendons, you had pain and restriction but no numbness. From your question, it seems that the numbness occurred after receiving the acupuncture sessions.
It is not uncommon to initially feel slight discomfort (numbness, tingling, spreading, heaviness) during acupuncture treatments. This transient sensation is a signal that the qi is doing it’s job of clearing away stagnation in the channels - a therapeutic response.
Sometimes needling into a tendon, blood vessel or nerve can produce discomfort as a result of the needling technique and is not a part of the therapeutic qi response. This is usually minor and resolves when the needle(s) are withdrawn.
Because the discomfort you describe has persisted over a week after your last session, it is possible that there was some mild irritation caused by needling. Numbness is most often caused by damage, irritation of compression of nerves.
Your description of the sensations are not severe (mild pain, almost numb), so it is likely no serious damage was done. You can try the following to help accelerate the healing process.
There are several essential oils that possess anti-inflammatory properties and also relieve nerve pain. Some of these include lavender, sweet marjoram, peppermint and many, many more (Check the internet for more options). Be sure to do a skin test patch of the oil you choose before applying it to your arm and dilute it in a carrier oil. Do once a day or every other day.
Hot and cold hydrotherapy could help. Plunge your arm into a basin containing hot water (don’t burn yourself!) and leave for 3 minutes. Then immediately plunge your arm into a basin containing cold water. Leave for 1 minute. Immediately repeat the process two more times. This will stimulate circulation and promote the repair process. Do this once a day.
It is not uncommon to initially feel slight discomfort (numbness, tingling, spreading, heaviness) during acupuncture treatments. This transient sensation is a signal that the qi is doing it’s job of clearing away stagnation in the channels - a therapeutic response.
Sometimes needling into a tendon, blood vessel or nerve can produce discomfort as a result of the needling technique and is not a part of the therapeutic qi response. This is usually minor and resolves when the needle(s) are withdrawn.
Because the discomfort you describe has persisted over a week after your last session, it is possible that there was some mild irritation caused by needling. Numbness is most often caused by damage, irritation of compression of nerves.
Your description of the sensations are not severe (mild pain, almost numb), so it is likely no serious damage was done. You can try the following to help accelerate the healing process.
There are several essential oils that possess anti-inflammatory properties and also relieve nerve pain. Some of these include lavender, sweet marjoram, peppermint and many, many more (Check the internet for more options). Be sure to do a skin test patch of the oil you choose before applying it to your arm and dilute it in a carrier oil. Do once a day or every other day.
Hot and cold hydrotherapy could help. Plunge your arm into a basin containing hot water (don’t burn yourself!) and leave for 3 minutes. Then immediately plunge your arm into a basin containing cold water. Leave for 1 minute. Immediately repeat the process two more times. This will stimulate circulation and promote the repair process. Do this once a day.
Acupuncture can trigger temporary nerve reactions. If the SX persists over a week, please see a neurologist figuring out where the numbness originates.
This is not a normal response to acupuncture. The heat could have worsened the condition, or acupuncture could have been administered into a point that was too close to a nerve, etc. Without seeing the problem/issue for myself, I can only give you educated guesses. I would recommend that you set up a consultation with an acupuncturist and immediately have it checked. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to separate the root cause from the symptoms and referred pain.
Evaluation is needed to determine further course of treatment
I am sorry to hear you are experiencing this. I have a few questions though:
1. Was this practitioner an L.Ac. (Licensed Acupuncturist) or was it a Chiropractor or MD who "does acupuncture" or was it a PT doing "dry needling?"
2. Did this rubbery feeling happen during the treatment sessions or is it happening now?
3. Have you told your practitioner about this numb rubbery feeling?
4. Did you get any relief from your tense muscles before this numbness happened?
I am not able to directly answer your questions, i.e., "will this go away," "why is it feeling this way?" because I cannot diagnose over the internet. I would need to see you personally. With that said, you should go back to your practitioner (if they are an L.Ac. or go to an L.Ac. if they were not) or go to another acupuncturist to see what is happening now.
If you did get relief, but this is something new, then you would need to fix this new thing. If you did not get relief, I would find another practitioner to assess and address the issue. One thing that it may be is the tendons have actually relaxed and the blood flow is healing all of the old tensions (this is common with my patients, but usually doesn't last more than two days. In rare cases, it has taken longer, though.
In the meantime, have you tried simple relief strategies such as "soaking in epson salt," "rubbing on some Tiger Balm," or an icy hot type topical? In addition to needling, your practitioner should also be able to supply you with a topical salve or "healing patch" to speed up recovery.
Again, my advice would be to return to the practitioner so they know what is happening or go to another L.Ac for a second opinion. I highly advise to avoid Chiropractors or MD's who "do acupuncture" and please avoid any PT doing "dry needling" they are laughingly minimally trained in this department. If you did see an L.Ac., you should seek another if this one does not help you recover.
1. Was this practitioner an L.Ac. (Licensed Acupuncturist) or was it a Chiropractor or MD who "does acupuncture" or was it a PT doing "dry needling?"
2. Did this rubbery feeling happen during the treatment sessions or is it happening now?
3. Have you told your practitioner about this numb rubbery feeling?
4. Did you get any relief from your tense muscles before this numbness happened?
I am not able to directly answer your questions, i.e., "will this go away," "why is it feeling this way?" because I cannot diagnose over the internet. I would need to see you personally. With that said, you should go back to your practitioner (if they are an L.Ac. or go to an L.Ac. if they were not) or go to another acupuncturist to see what is happening now.
If you did get relief, but this is something new, then you would need to fix this new thing. If you did not get relief, I would find another practitioner to assess and address the issue. One thing that it may be is the tendons have actually relaxed and the blood flow is healing all of the old tensions (this is common with my patients, but usually doesn't last more than two days. In rare cases, it has taken longer, though.
In the meantime, have you tried simple relief strategies such as "soaking in epson salt," "rubbing on some Tiger Balm," or an icy hot type topical? In addition to needling, your practitioner should also be able to supply you with a topical salve or "healing patch" to speed up recovery.
Again, my advice would be to return to the practitioner so they know what is happening or go to another L.Ac for a second opinion. I highly advise to avoid Chiropractors or MD's who "do acupuncture" and please avoid any PT doing "dry needling" they are laughingly minimally trained in this department. If you did see an L.Ac., you should seek another if this one does not help you recover.
Good morning,
1. Experience numbness during or after acupuncture treatment is a normal feeling.
2. Most of the time, it goes away within 5-7 days.
3. What you can do now is rest, and use some heat (i.e., heating pad 3x/day, 10 mins at a time). It should gradually subside.
Take care,
David
1. Experience numbness during or after acupuncture treatment is a normal feeling.
2. Most of the time, it goes away within 5-7 days.
3. What you can do now is rest, and use some heat (i.e., heating pad 3x/day, 10 mins at a time). It should gradually subside.
Take care,
David
I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm going to make a couple of suggestions:
1. Follow up with the initial provider. Let them know what you're experiencing and see what they think.
2. Make an appointment with your primary care doctor and get a neurologist referral (or make an appointment with a neurologist).
I suspect a nerve in your forearm was either damaged or irritated during this process. How long it might take to heal is going to be a tricky thing to figure out without a lot more information. Please make sure you're seeing an NCCAOM board certified and state licensed acupuncturist when receiving acupuncture treatments. There are a lot of people out there right now who are trying to cash in on acupuncture's popularity and they're not necessarily well trained.
1. Follow up with the initial provider. Let them know what you're experiencing and see what they think.
2. Make an appointment with your primary care doctor and get a neurologist referral (or make an appointment with a neurologist).
I suspect a nerve in your forearm was either damaged or irritated during this process. How long it might take to heal is going to be a tricky thing to figure out without a lot more information. Please make sure you're seeing an NCCAOM board certified and state licensed acupuncturist when receiving acupuncture treatments. There are a lot of people out there right now who are trying to cash in on acupuncture's popularity and they're not necessarily well trained.
