Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61H—PHYSICAL THERAPY APPARATUS, e.g. DEVICES FOR LOCATING OR STIMULATING REFLEX POINTS IN THE BODY; ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION; MASSAGE; BATHING DEVICES FOR SPECIAL THERAPEUTIC OR HYGIENIC PURPOSES OR SPECIFIC PARTS OF THE BODY
  • A61H39/00—Devices for locating or stimulating specific reflex points of the body for physical therapy, e.g. acupuncture
  • A61H39/08—Devices for applying needles to such points, i.e. for acupuncture ; Acupuncture needles or accessories therefor

Definitions

• the present invention is concerned with a needle for acupuncture treatment. It is designed to prevent the contact between the needle and the skin of an acupuncturist during needling by using a new acupuncture set in which a sterile needle is put into a aseptic thin filmed needle covering.
• An acupuncturist does not use a guide tube and inserts a needle without removing the covering, thereby only a sterile needle is inserted into the patient's skin, and the needle covering is remained in a collapsed state on the skin. It is to provide a kind of improved no touch method of needling, which would minimize all infectious complications of acupuncture treatment.
• acupuncture When acupuncture is applied according to a prescription of oriental medicine, a needle is usually inserted into the body of the patient through the dense and thick skin tissues. In order for the accurate acupuncture, a force is applied to the hands of the acupuncturist which hold and advance the needle. At this time, the patient may be exposed to infection with various organisms from the fingers of the acupuncturist.
• a large number of needles are stored in a needle box or several needles are packaged in a box.
• the needle is picked up from the box with bare hand, and some acupuncturists even held the several needles in the mouth in order to treat multiple points.
• the needle may be easily contaminated during acupuncture.
• it is required to use a guide tube in order to prevent bending of the needle during acupuncture.
• the needle In order to prevent infection due to the above-mentioned contamination, it is preferable to envelope the needle in a sterilized sanitary cotton or paper.
• the present invention would provide the solution for all the above- mentioned problems by using a new needle set comprising a sterile needle and an outer aseptic thin filmed covering. Acupuncture is performed without removing the outer covering, so that the sterile needle can be inserted though the skin of the patient without contact the hands of acupuncturist, thereby contamination of the needle body is thoroughly prevented. Needles on the scalp can hardly be missed when removing because the discernible collapsed outer covering is still remained on the scalp. Acupuncture can be easily and conveniently performed with both hands, whereby even a western needle, the thickness of which is merely 0.2 - 0.3 mm, can be used without a guide tube.
• the present invention provides a new no touch method of needling by adopting a protective outer covering which also functions as wrapping of the needle
• Fig. 1 shows the structure of a needle for acupuncture according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
• Fig. 2 shows the needle for acupuncture of the present invention when in use
• Fig. 3 shows the needle for acupuncture after its use
• Fig. 4 shows the structure of a needle according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• Fig. 1 is a view showing the structure of a needle 10 for acupuncture according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
• the needle 10 comprises a needle body 11, a needle head 12 attached to one end of the needle, body 11, and an outer covering 20 formed in the shape of a thin film for surrounding the needle body 11 and the needle head 12.
• the outer covering 20 is preferably made of a thin material that can easily transmit the tactile sensation to an acupuncturist, such as thin vinyl, thin paper, or thin cloth. It is important that the tactile sensation of the acupuncturist is maintained when acupuncture is performed.
• the outer covering 20 serves as a wrapper so that the contamination of the needle due to an external exposure is prevented.
• the end of the needle body 1 1 surrounded by the outer covering 20 is put on the skin of a patient 50 where the acupuncture is performed while the needle body 11 is lightly held by one hand 30 of the acupuncturist and the needle head 12 is lightly held by the other hand as shown in Fig. 2. Under this condition, the needle head 12 is lightly hit so that the end of the needle body 1 1 penetrate the outer covering 20 and inserted into the skin of the patient 50. At this time, the tactile sensation of the needle insertion is directly transmitted to the hand of the acupuncturist. Consequently, the acupuncturist can continue applying the acupuncture while feeling the penetration of the needle into the body of the patient.
• the outer covering 20 remains crumpled on the skin of the patient 50.
• Each needle set may be detachably attached to each other as shown in Fig. 4 to provide a convenience in storing without loosing protective function. Consequently, each of the interconnected needles can be separated from the others by cutting off the interconnection parts 21.
• the present invention provides a new no touch technique without loosing the tactile sensation of needling by applying outer covering to a needle. Furthermore, the needle inserted into the body of the patient is easily seen for removal, and thus leaving the needle for acupuncture in the body of the patient is prevented. And the distinction between used needles and fresh needles is easily made, and thus reuse of the used needles is prevented.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Rehabilitation Therapy (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• Pain & Pain Management (AREA)
• Physical Education & Sports Medicine (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
• Finger-Pressure Massage (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=27729189

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (4)

Families Citing this family (3)

Citations (5)

Family Cites Families (6)

• 2002
  • 2002-11-07 KR KR10-2002-0068708A patent/KR100511346B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2003
  • 2003-10-18 WO PCT/KR2003/002189 patent/WO2004041147A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2003-10-18 CN CNB2003801027482A patent/CN100418503C/zh not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2003-10-18 AU AU2003269567A patent/AU2003269567A1/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (5)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events