What is your stance & or past experience with Acupuncture?

as with any form of medicine acupuncture works for the majority of people but not for everybody. it is very important to go to an acupuncturist who has the appropriate training (5-10 year degree course) and who is registered with a national regulating body, if you are in the uk the ATCM is probably the best. as for the risk of infection from needles provided you go to an acredited practritioner the risk is very small as all the needles are single use and sterile, in addition the areas to be needled will be sterilised prior to insertation of the needle. the points selected will depend on your condition, if the problem is an acute neck and shoulder pain for example the majority of the needles will be applied locally, whilst if the problem is a chronic one, ME for example the points will varied. Acupuncture will not cure your condition in one session, the duration of your treatment depends upon the condition,and on the frequency of your treatments, but you will probablly be looking at about 12 sessions 1 - 2 times per week. As for the effectiveness, china has used this system of medicine for well over 2000 years and only began to incorporate wetern medicine when it was forced upon them by european and american missionaries along with our religions and customs. however the chinese are aware that this is still a valid form of health care and continue to use it in their hospitals in a very much intergrated system. additionally there is a wealth of western research which proves the effectiveness of acupuncture for various conditions in randomised controlled trials, many of which show acupuncture to be the superior treatment in coparison to western treatments. in the area of anesthesia, in china patients who are unable to recieve general anesthetic are anethnatised using acupuncture, brain surgey and heart surgey are examples of sinarios where acupuncture has been used as an alternative to general anesthetic.
the nhs is slowly incorporating acupuncture into the hospitals in the form of pain clinics , here as it can no longer deny that huge numbers of patients are benifiting from this treatment, and feel happier when they dont have to take harmful pain relieving drugs which are causing other bodily problems.
for further information you can go to the website of the journal of chinese medicine.

I am against Acupuncture as it is a bunch of hooey. Plus anytime you invade the skin there is always the risk of infection!
Sarc : The only way is to hack away at the migraine witha jack hammer
I have never had it done but I have been interested in it since I heard of it... I'm kinda afraid of needles tho.. so I have been to chicken to try.
I have used it, but it didn't help me with my back problem.

I am chinese and I know many people who have used acupuncture and has had great effect.

It depends on what type of conditions you are hoping to treat. Things like stopping smoking, losing weight, acupuncture does not work for, it's all hype and trend!!!

However, acupuncture for things like arthritis, and other types of pains, they have found to be quite effective.

I think a lot of belief in it also helps.

I saw a program about acupuncture and there was a woman in China who had open heart surgery whilst wide awake, no anaesthetic, just acupuncture!

Hope this helps.
I got a bad infection when i got it done
but my sore back went away
i guess it could have been because i used a cheap place for the procedure
I have had acupuncture treatment on different conditions and each time it worked out ok.....no problems at all. Fresh needles are used all the time just like they would do at the hospital.