Acupuncture in Jordan

Acupuncture is a procedure in which a practitioner inserts fine, sterile, single-use needles at specific points on the body. In Jordan it is most often used for back and neck pain, headache and nausea, and many people seek it to reduce their reliance on painkillers. This page takes a clear position: **acupuncture is a complementary treatment that is added to a medical plan, not a substitute for one**. **The most important warning**: delaying a medical diagnosis, or abandoning treatment for an existing disease — cancer, diabetes, hypertension, immune-mediated arthritis — in favour of acupuncture is a dangerous decision that may not be correctable later. Pain is a symptom, not a disease, and you are entitled to know its cause before it is treated. Any practitioner who tells you to stop your medication, or promises to cure a chronic illness, is one to walk away from. Safety rests on two things and no others: **needles are sterile, used once and discarded**, and **the practitioner is licensed and qualified**. Transmission of hepatitis or a local infection through a reused needle is a real risk, not a theoretical one, and a rare but serious complication is lung injury (pneumothorax) from deep needling near the chest wall by untrained hands. Acupuncture is not suitable for everyone. People on anticoagulants or with a bleeding disorder are prone to bleeding and bruising; electrical stimulation of needles is not used in anyone with a pacemaker; certain points are avoided in pregnancy; and needling is not performed over inflamed or infected skin, or on a limb affected by lymphoedema. Tell the practitioner about every medicine you take — including herbs and supplements — and every diagnosis you carry before the first session, and tell your treating doctor that you are receiving acupuncture.