Copper coil handle of acupuncture needle is more prone to buckling than plastic handle

Compared with plastic handle of acupuncture needle, copper coil handle is far more susceptible to buckling according to a study reported on the journal Acupuncture in Medicine.

When the acupuncture needle is inserted into the body, in particular with long needle, it can easily bend or buckle. One of the ways to prevent the buckling is for acupuncturist to hold the needle body to assist the needle insertion, which has potential to cause infection. So avoiding needle buckling will reduce the risk of infection and enhance patient comfort and safety. Cooper coil handle and plastic handle are the two most commonly used acupuncture needle handles. Which one is more prone to buckling?

Recently Dr. Zhang and colleagues in Australia conducted a study to assess the strength and weakness of both cooper coil handle and plastic handle for needle buckling. Using a digital scale needles with two different types of handles, of the size of 0.25 mm×30 mm and 0.25 mm×60 mm were indiscriminately selected for buckling tests of acupuncture needles. Also needle body stiffness is also measured using a Dynamic Mechanical Analysis. It was found that plastic handle showed a significantly greater buckling resistance than cooper coil handle, while the stiffness of two types of needle bodies is similar.

The study demonstrated that the difference of buckling resistance between two types of needles was in the handle design. The handle of cooper needle is comprised of a cooper coil tightly wound around the upper part of the stainless steel needle, while plastic needle handle is made of plastic stick.

Although it is suggested replacing of cooper coil handles with plastic one would save tones of cooper metal, plastic handle, at present, is not suitable for use with moxibustion and less easy to use for electroacupuncture.

Refrence:

Zhang CS et al., Relationship between buckling of acupuncture needles and the handle type. Acupunct Med doi:10.1136/acupmed-2014-010586.   http://aim.bmj.com/content/early/2014/07/14/acupmed-2014-010586