Expert: Tamsen Staniford, L.Ac. - 2/26/2010

Question
I have neck pain and facial pain. After the 2nd session, My pain has exacerbated; I cannot walk properly, with weakness of the left leg and left butt(this happened when the pain was very severe
several years ago. Did she injure my spinal cord?

Answer
Meena,

I would love to answer your question as best I can; and if you feel your situation is an emergency I encourage you to see your primary care doctor immediately.   
Please provide me with a little more information so I can better answer your question:  do you remember where on your body the acupuncturist placed the needles, do you know what training the practitioner has received (are they a Licensed Acupuncturist or an MD or Chiropractor who also does needling for example), did the location of the needles changes from the first treatment to the second treatment?  This will help me get a better understanding of what happened and what may be causing your symptoms.
In the meantime, I will answer your question in a general way.  First of all it is very difficult to even get to the spinal cord with an acupuncture needle and someone well trained in acupuncture would have to try very hard to make a very huge mistake in order to accomplish it.  That doesn't mean it didn't happen, which is why I asked you for some more information.  
Second, increase in pain and exacerbation of symptoms is actually a fairly common response to acupuncture.  It is often an indication that the wrong points were used and/or the wrong approach was taken.  Some people may say this is actually a "healing crisis" and that it will get better after it gets worse.  Personally I do not believe in that, but it's a matter of debate in natural healing circles.  It is my opinion that if the symptoms are worse, the practitioner did the wrong thing and it is a good learning experience for you both.  Now you and the practitioner know what does not work and have a clearer understanding of what to do next.
Third, to understand how the exacerbation of symptoms happen I will explain a little bit about the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of pain and disease.  Both occur when there is a blockage of the normal flow of body substances, including blood, fluids, and life-force energy (Ki or "chi").  Acupuncture works to restore normal flow of these, in part by removing any blockages.  Sometimes when acupuncture promotes the normal flow of these body substances without properly addressing the blockages, the fluids and ki will aggravate the blockage, thus making the pain and symptoms worse.  
When this happens, it is not commonly dangerous but simply uncomfortable and unfortunate for you who experiences the exacerbation.  The first thing to do is ask the practitioner to either correct the treatment for you (free of charge would be ethical in my opinion) or refer you to another practitioner who can.  By speaking with your practitioner about what happened, you both will gain a better understanding of your disease process, in the same way you would talk to your pharmacist or MD about side effects of medications to gain more knowledge and proceed accordingly.
I wish you the best and look forward to hearing more information if you need a more specific answer for your case.

Thanks,
Tamsen Staniford, L.Ac.