When a 65-year-old South Korean woman sought medical help for persistent knee pain, doctors didn’t anticipate finding anything unusual. Yet what they discovered turned out to be extraordinary.
Unwanted stomach issues
Living with osteoarthritis can be extremely debilitating. The condition gradually wears down cartilage in the joints, causing stiffness, swelling, and constant pain that makes even simple everyday activities exhausting.
Tasks that were once effortless — climbing stairs, bending to tie shoes, or walking short distances — can become painful and slow.
The woman in this story had struggled with osteoarthritis for years. Pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medications offered minimal relief and came with unwanted stomach complications.
Seeking alternatives, she turned to acupuncture, according to a case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Acupuncture, a centuries-old therapy, involves inserting fine needles into specific points of the body to relieve pain or treat ailments. In this particular case, the needles — reportedly made of gold — were intentionally left in her knees for continuous stimulation.
However, leaving foreign objects in the body carries risks.
“Foreign objects left inside the body can lead to inflammation, abscesses, and infection,” said Dr. Ali Guermazi, a professor of radiology at Boston University who was not involved in the case.
Dr. Guermazi also cautioned that embedded needles can interfere with imaging scans. “The needles may obscure some of the anatomy,” he explained in 2013, making X-ray readings more difficult.
The human body often reacts poorly to foreign objects, sometimes triggering a foreign body reaction or a chronic inflammatory response.
“The human body wants to get rid of the foreign object,” Guermazi said. “It begins with defensive mechanisms, such as inflammation and the formation of fibrous tissue around the object.”
Even more concerning, needles left in the body can make future medical imaging dangerous. “The patient can’t go into an MRI because needles left in the body may move and damage an artery,” Guermazi added.
The evidence supporting acupuncture as a treatment for medical conditions remains limited. Yet the practice continues to be popular for managing joint pain, particularly in some Asian countries where tiny pieces of sterile gold thread are commonly inserted around a joint to treat arthritis.
Acupuncture is also widely used in the United States. In 2007, an estimated 3.1 million adults and 150,000 children received the treatment, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
For this woman, the gold-laden needles in her knees serve as a striking reminder that alternative medicine can sometimes leave more than just a mark — in her case, it left a literal treasure trove.
