Acupuncture Myopathy? (Remembrance of Things Passed)

To the Editor: One can safely predict that acupuncture offers something to every patient — “acupuncture myopathy” at the very least. This possibility was poignantly brought to our attention by a muscle biopsy of a man who had nonspecific, dysanatomic, neuromuscular complaints and shifting neurologic findings highlighted by dramatic drawings-up of a limb demanding relief by, and responding within seconds to, an ice pack placed on either the afflicted region or as designated elsewhere. The muscle section had a punctate, sub-epimysial, focal area 0.25 to 0.40 mm in diameter that contained chronic inflammatory cells (Fig. 1). Prodded by this finding, ….