by Shawn Kirby

Buying acupuncture needles is a lot like going to a really great smorgasbord – there are a lot of choices but it’s not always easy to know what you want and/or need. This handy little guide is designed to help you easily find and order the type of needle you know and love, and might even inspire you to try something new.

Follow up:

Handle Type

People are often confused as to what the various differences are between one type of handle style and another. What are the advantages of a given style, and why are they like that in the first place?

The first, and absolute best, way to choose the type of handle that you use in your acupuncture practice is to experiment with many different styles of handle and choose the one that feels best to you. No two people are alike, and everyone’s hand is different. Only you can truly determine what handle style will work best for you in your practice. That being said, there are a number of different styles of handles available on the market, each catering to certain styles and techniques.

• Spiral and Loop

Spiral and loop style needles have a traditional Chinese style of handle that harkens back to the days when needles were hand-made. A hand-made needle would have had a handle that was constructed of hand-wound wire around the upper part of the needle shaft with a “loop” or “ball” at the end to serve as the anchor.

This handle style is excellent for people who like to grasp the needle with their fingertips facing toward the patient’s skin, and thus favors Chinese style needle techniques that emphasize upward and downward thrusting and stimulation techniques, such as “Fire on the Mountain”, or “Penetrating Heaven’s Coolness.” The wire handle provides excellent grip, and can also be used for the “Scratching” technique when the handle is gently scratched with the practitioner’s fingernails to call qi to the point. Blue Poppy offers TeWa needles and Mac Spiral and Loop needles that feature this style of handle.

• Spring Style

Spring style handles are similar to spiral and loop style handles in the sense that they have a ribbed surface that provides excellent grip. Unlike the more traditional spiral and loop handle, however, spring style handles are usually manufactured as a solid piece, rather than wrapped wire, and have no loop or ball end piece. These needles are often favored by those who perform needle top moxibustion, or find that the loop/ball feature feels awkward to their hand. Blue Poppy offers DBC Spring Ten needles with this handle style, as well as Seirin Lasers which can be purchased via special order.

• Plastic Handle and Pipe Handle Needles

There are a number of plastic handled needles on the market today, but the most well known are, of course, Seirin needles. The plastic handle on a Seirin needle is a modern innovation on the more traditional pipe style handle. (Modern metallic pipe handles are usually made from aluminum to keep weight to a minimum.) This handle style favors traditional Japanese style needling in which the practitioner grasps the needle with their fingers parallel to the patient’s skin, and side to side rotation needle techniques are used instead of up-and-down thrusting techniques. This larger diameter handle facilitates the rapid, yet short, side to side movements performed with the pads of the fingers and thumb in this style. Blue Poppy offers Seirin needles with the plastic handle, and Mac L Type Ultra Glide Pipe Handle needles in this style.

Gauge

Needle gauge can be a confusing topic. First of all, it is essential that, when ordering needles, you understand the difference between needle thickness and actual needle gauge. A needle “gauge” refers to a standard of conformity, and is a shorthand nomenclature for a particular thickness. In acupuncture needles there are two gauge standardizations, Chinese and Japanese. The two are roughly equivalent, with more offerings in thin needle sizes in the Japanese system and thicker sizes in the Chinese.

As you look at the chart below, you will notice that the Japanese gauge numbers go up in numeric value the thicker they become, while Chinese gauge numbers go down as they become thicker. To make matters more confusing, these numbers have no real relationship to the actual thickness. So, for instance, a common needle gauge can be referred to correctly as any or all of the following - a 36 gauge in the Chinese system, a 3 gauge in the Japanese system and is 0.20 mm/0.0079 inches in diameter. (Is anyone else confused yet?)

Fortunately, a common color coding system has been developed to match up to the gauges to help simplify the confusion. The needle above is considered a “blue” needle. The plastic Seirin needle handles adhere to this color system. Most other companies also follow this system, even if they manufacture a metallic handled needle, by color coding the little widgets/tabs that hold the needles in place next to the guide tube when they are packaged.

Choosing the right needle gauge involves taking into consideration both the type of technique that will be used as well as the length of the needle used. Someone who is performing deep needling into HUANTIAO GB-30 on a large or overweight patient to treat sciatica might desire a needle that is up to four inches or more in length. A needle this long that is a very thin gauge would become unwieldy and too bendy to insert. In this case a thicker needle will be preferable to give the needle enough stability for ease of insertion. (A modern solution to this problem, the Safe-T Sleeve ®, is featured in longer lengths of TeWa needles. Click here to see a video on this remarkable device.) On the other hand, a thinner needle will afford more patient comfort when needling the antiquity points near the hands and feet. For this application, many practitioners prefer a needle that is a lighter gauge/smaller in diameter.

Length

The length of the needle is the final consideration when purchasing a needle. The anatomical location of point being needled and the technique used will also figure into the choice of length. A 30mm/1 inch length needle is perfectly fine for needling HEGU LI-4, but would not be appropriate for the application of needle top moxa, as it is too short and the moxa would burn uncomfortably close to the skin, possibly resulting in burning. Longer needles can be used for areas of the body like GB-30 where deep needling is safe, but should be avoided near vital organs etc. Longer needles can also be used for more complicated techniques like “threading” a needle parallel to the body across multiple points, such as the Hua-to Jia Ji points on the back, a commonly used technique.

"Ear" Needles

Finally, there are needles that are used primarily for auricular acupuncture. These needles are usually 15mm/1/2 inch in length, and often do not come with a guide tube. Blue Poppy offers Seirin D type needles in this style, as well as DBC needles. The DBC Spring 10's come in packages of 1,000 needles, with 10 needles per guide tube/blister pack. The DBC needles provide excellent value for the money, and are very convenient for specialty clinics for smoking cessation, NADA protocol clinics, etc.