I've been to dozens of acupuncturists in my life, and I feel obligated to comment about my…read moreexperience with Arthur Sardoni. I saw him once, in March 2026, and it was the worst acupuncture experience I've ever had. In fact, in my 50 years of seeing acupuncturists (I am 70 yrs.), Arthur is the only one who has ever injured me.
Some background on me: I was a massage therapist in practice for 20 years, so I understand that the first and most important duty a therapist or doctor has to a patient is to "do no harm." Yet that's exactly what I experienced with Arthur -- he ended up harming me by causing severe spasms and pain in my mid-back (and the mid-back was not even the reason I went to see him in the first place).
To clarify, I made the appt. w/ Arthur for treatment of severe headaches I'd been having for months (most likely stemming from issues in my neck). I told him the headache problem was what I wanted him to work on. I did mention to him that I had noticed a slight tightness to the right of my mid-thoracic spine, but told him that it was very minor, and it was not the reason I was there.
For treatment, I was looking to get meridian point needling, not cupping, but when Arthur said he used both needling and cupping, I decided to trust him and didn't say no to the cupping. That was a mistake.
I have had cupping done in the past by other acupuncturists and had no problem with it. But they all had done "normal" cupping -- meaning, one cup per one problem area, left to sit for many minutes. Arthur's method of cupping was totally different -- he did what is called "mobile" cupping, which means pressing the suction cup down and running it back and forth over the body. Though I understand this method is sometimes used, it was the way Arthur used it that was the problem. Read on for details ...
Arthur took the suction cup and proceeded aggressively to go roughshod over my back at a frantic speed. It was incredibly jarring, the suction was cranked up way too high, and I felt my back tense up in self-defense. I told him the suction was too intense and that he was going too fast, and that it was hurting me. He basically didn't change anything, just continued with the cupping.
After the cupping, he did some very minimal needling in the base of my skull, shoulders and neck. I'm used to much more comprehensive needling over more meridian points, and I felt his approach was not effective as compared to what I've experienced with other acupuncturists.
But the real problem with the "treatment" was this: by the time I woke up the next morning, my mid-back was in such an intense spasm that I could barely move -- I couldn't turn to the left or right, or bend down, without major stabbing pain. From my experience as a massage therapist, I knew that the nerves coming out of my mid-back had been irritated and compressed, thus causing the intense pain, and I knew this was a direct result of the ridiculously hard and way-too-fast cupping Arthur did on my back. This pain persisted for days, and because I no longer trusted Arthur's ability or judgment, I ended up having to pay other practitioners to undo the damage that Arthur did. Meanwhile, the stress from the pain caused by the inflamed and spasmed back muscles caused my headache pain to get even worse. It was a total fiasco of a "treatment."
Arthur would not reimburse me the $95 for his awful and harmful "treatment." Two other points I'd like to make ... he said before going into the treatment room that he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable at any time during the treatment -- but then proceeded to aggressively run roughshod over my back with the cupping in a way that did indeed feel very uncomfortable. It seemed like the words he said didn't match his actions. Also, he made a comment about a certain part of my anatomy that was quite out of left field, inappropriate, and made me feel really uncomfortable. I got the impression that Arthur has a problem with boundaries, which would make anyone uncomfortable.
The only aspect of my "treatment" experience with Arthur that wasn't a total bummer was that it taught me a lesson ... which is, to ALWAYS listen to my intuition. Because, oddly enough, when I went to his office for the appt. and met him for the first time, something told me to turn around and leave -- I actually had a strong urge to just make up some excuse and walk away -- but I ignored it. For ignoring my instincts, I got injured by a "healer" (that's what he calls himself) who seemed more interested in talking about himself than really tuning in to treating me consciously. When I asked for my money back for the botched "treatment" (which he refused to give back), his response was that it wasn't his "intention" to harm me -- as if his intentions make up for the fact that he did, indeed, cause me considerable harm.
So if you're trying to decide whether to book an appt. w/ Arthur, my advice is to look elsewhere.
