A woman suffering from severe pain in her knee joints went to the hospital to find out the cause of her chronic pain. X-rays revealed hundreds of golden threads inside her knee, according to a report by Science Daily.

The patient had previously been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in the knee, a degenerative joint condition causing pain and stiffness. She had sought medical care and was treated with painkillers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. She also received steroid injections directly into her knees, but the pain persisted.

She then began experiencing severe stomach pain due to the medications and stopped taking them entirely. The woman decided to seek alternative treatments to relieve joint pain and started weekly acupuncture sessions, increasing the frequency to several times a week when the pain was severe.

When the pain intensified, she went to the hospital. X-rays of her left knee showed that the tibia bone on the inner part of the joint had thickened and hardened. Bone spurs were also found on the inner parts of the tibia and femur near the knee joint.

Most notably, doctors observed hundreds of spots on the X-rays around the knee joint, which turned out to be tiny golden threads. The report stated that doctors concluded these threads were inserted as part of the woman’s acupuncture treatments. These short, sterilized golden threads were deliberately left in the tissues to provide continuous stimulation. The report warned that leaving these threads in place is not risk-free, as it has led to cyst formation in previous cases.

The threads can also migrate within the body and their fragments may damage surrounding tissues. For example, golden threads implanted in the back of a 75-year-old South Korean woman migrated down her right leg over 10 years, causing cellulitis – a deep skin infection.

Doctors said there is no evidence supporting the effectiveness of this practice, and some cases suggest it may indirectly worsen arthritis by preventing patients from receiving timely appropriate treatment.