What is an acupuncture treatment?

There are many styles of acupuncture and according to them the treatment varies. In general, from 3 to 30 needles are inserted, which are gently manipulated until the acupunctural sensation (de Qi) that is generally experienced as a heaviness sensation or an electrical "cramp", which is not necessarily painful, but is unpleasant since we are not used to it. The length of the therapy goes from 20 to 40 minutes and can include electroacupuncture, laser acupuncture, auriculotherapy, cupping, moxibustion. Some acupuncturists reinforce the effects of acupuncture with the use of phytotherapy or homeopathy. Acupuncture works in cycles of treatment, each cycle goes from 3 to 10 therapy sessions depending on the individual patient, his ailment and its evolution. The cost of each session is between 100 and 500 pesos, depending on the experience of each doctor.

In what way does the acupuncturist deal with the risks of infection with the treatment?
The NOM (Mexican Official Norm) on acupuncture requests that acupuncture technitians use sterile disposable needles in each treatment, but medical doctors practicing acupuncture, since they had training in infection control (aseptic techniques) can use re-usable needles which should be sterilized like surgical instruments (may be by chemical means, by pressure or by heat). In SANAR we use ONLY sterile, disposable needles. The loss of blood is generally null, therefore the use of gloves is not requested when applying acupuncture, but as a rule, the sterilization of the region is. Fortunately, in medical literature there have been no cases of infection transmitted from the acupuncture practitioner to his patients or viceversa. In the same way, the review of the literature about risks of infection related to acupuncture is very low, in the order of 1 case for every 6000 treatments.