Doctors examining a 65-year-old South Korean woman’s X-ray were shocked to find hundreds of tiny gold acupuncture needles embedded in her knees.
Suffering from osteoarthritis, she had turned to acupuncture after medications caused stomach issues.
Her practitioner had intentionally left the gold needles in her tissue for continued stimulation. However, experts warn this can cause inflammation, abscesses, infection, and interfere with imaging scans like X-rays or MRIs.
While acupuncture is popular for joint pain relief and gold thread treatments are common in Asia, scientific evidence of its effectiveness remains limited. Despite risks, millions still use acupuncture worldwide for chronic pain.
