When a 65-year-old South Korean woman went in for chronic knee pain, doctors were surprised by what they saw on her X-ray — tiny “gold-like” foreign objects inside her knees.
She had been struggling with osteoarthritis for years, and standard pain medications gave little relief and caused side effects, so she turned to acupuncture.
According to a medical case report, small needles (in some cases gold threads) had been intentionally left in her knees as part of treatment.
However, doctors warn that leaving foreign objects in the body can cause inflammation, infection, and complications with imaging like X-rays and MRIs, since the objects may interfere with scans or even shift inside the body.
The case highlights both the risks of embedded acupuncture needles and the ongoing debate over how effective such treatments truly are for chronic joint pain.