Safe Needling in the Thoracic Region
Acupuncture is generally a very safe modality, especially when it is used by skilled, well trained professionals. This has been evidenced in several very large studies from England, Germany, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia involving prospective assessments of 64,000 consultations in the SAFA studies to around 4 million consultations in the GERAC studies. Even though it is rare, pneumothorax is the most common serious adverse event which can occur with the practice of acupuncture. The attached power point handout is a lecture that was presented in August and October of 2008 for the Australian Physiotherapy Association.