pain in hand after acupuncture

[kelliott805]

I recently had acupuncture for the first time and it was amazing except for one thing. The acupuncturist placed one needle in my wrist in between the tendons and right away my hand and lower arm went numb. She removed the needle and decided not to replace it but move on to another spot. The rest of the acupuncture went great. I felt amazing after and most of the next day I felt great. Towards the end of the day I started to notice a pain in the palm of my hand(right at the crease where it meets my wrist) when I extended my arm. Now three days later I still am experiencing a lot of pain and tingling when i use my hand or extend my arm to reach something or put my arms up with my hand open. Is this nerve damage or something I need to be worried about? What do I need to do to fix this? Please help! I have a 1 and a half year old and it is hard to do things without my hand hurting now. Need to find a solution ASAP. thank you

[Monica B Kaderali, MS, LAc]

I am sorry to hear about the pain you experienced after acupuncture.  From your description I believe I know what point, or at least meridian, she was needling.  Many people report a tingling or numb sensation in that area, and if the sensation is excessive, the needle is removed, which is exactly what your acupuncturist did.  
There are hundreds of acupuncture points on the body, and each body is unique.  For this reason an acupuncturist can needle the same point at the exact same location at the exact same depth on 10 people, and one will get a bruise, as they happened to have a tiny blood vessel in that location.
It is possible that the acupuncture needle touched a nerve, but it is also possible that in your body one of the nerves that supplies that area with sensation or function is higher to the surface or in a slightly different location than most other people.  
Regardless, these things are often self-limiting and tend to go away over several days.  
I am sure your acupuncturist would appreciate knowing your situation, and would most likely offer to have you come back in to see if one of our other modalities (moxa, tui na) would help relieve some of the discomfort during the healing process.
I hope this helps, and once again I am sorry for the discomfort you are experiencing.

[Margot49]

Have you contacted the person that did the acupuncture?  I hoped you checked to make sure this person has the proper training.
Sounds to me (and I'm  no medical professional) that a  nerve may have been nicked.  I had that happen to me from a blood draw some years ago and it hurt pretty bad for about a week.  I was told to put ice on it as there wasn't much they could do.