Optimal needle size for auricular acupuncture
forum post
Optimal needle size for auricular acupuncture
Published on 03-07-2013
"Pandrej" - this is their first post.
Hey, all. I'm a newly-certified auricular acupuncturist. I was trained using needles that were 15mm in length. After training I bought some 30mm needles to see if I found them preferable, but I have a lot of difficulty with getting them in firmly. Of course this is no problem because I can just use 15mm, but now I have a couple boxes of 30mm needles and I am not sure if I'll ever get use out of them. Are there any recommendations as to how to possibly modify my technique to work with longer needles? Has anyone else had a hard time with this?
Thanks for your time.
Comments / Discussions:
comment by "anon237023"
on Mar 2013
I use serin .16 a lot and use them for ears with great sucess generally from a guide tube. The special 12mm ear needles are great especially for free hand insertion and because they are very short - less likley to be knocked out by the patient and they are very light so less like to pull out because of their own weight.
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comment by "Volesky"
on Mar 2013
Depending on the brand of needle you may be able to just use a guide tube when inserting the needle. However, with some brands and think the needle would be inserted to deeply with this. So Seirin, for example, you could use a guide tube insertion, but DBC inserts deeper with a guide tube and I think you might risk piercing the ear through.
Personally, I use Hwato brand .20x15mm needles. They have a good tendency to grab so the needles don't fall out easily like a Seirin would and you can use a guide tube to insert them making the insertion less painful, if at all.
Hope that helps.
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comment by "Volesky"
on Mar 2013
I don't mean to say that Seirin are not good needles. They are great in fact. I just personally don't like them for the ears as much because they tend to be "slippery". When the needle is only going in so deep (like 1 mm) it can fall out much more easily, even with only a slight movement. Seirin is the only type of needle I have had that problem with in the ear. The Hwato seem to be a little more coarse (you would probably need a magnifying glass to see it) or they don't have the same coating as the Seirin. Either way, they just stay in the ear much better in my experience.
Good luck!
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comment by "Pandrej"
on Mar 2013
Yeah, the needle I have the most difficulty with is a Serin, which surprised me because I've heard such great things.
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comment by "Pandrej"
on Mar 2013
Thank you, I appreciate your feedback. I will experiment with guide tubes and see if that helps.
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comment by "Pandrej"
on Mar 2013
Thanks to you both for the fantastic feedback.
For some reason my NADA trainer encouraged us not to utilize guide tubes, so I hadn't even tried. However, the 30mm needles go into the ear MUCH easier with the guide tubes.
I wasn't aware of 12mm needles-- that sounds really ideal for my practice. I'll look into that!
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comment by "anon219571"
on Sep 2017
I see its an old topic, but maybe you didn’t Fins the answer yet.
I’m a last year acupuncture student. We’re getting traind to use 2525 and 2540 needles without tube, because when you van use thema, you can almost use any needles. The long ones (25*40) we flex slightly before insertion. When there is a little bit tension on the needles it is easier to insert them. You must look at the angle of the point to the correct insertion angle.
If you use needles with Silicon coating it is a lot easier to insertion them.
Greets
Acupuncture student
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