April is Earth Month – This is the time to engage the 5 Phases of Planetary Healing!

On April 22, 1970, millions of citizens across America took to the streets to protest the pollution of the natural environment. 52 years later, this one day has continued to be acknowledged around the world with events and protests with estimates of over a 100 million people participating with live in-person and online events.

Gradually this day began to expand from one day, to multiple days, to the point that April just became known as “Earth Month”. Being that April is when the renewal of spring is in full swing, it is the perfect month for all of us to become part of the solution to the crisis now threating our planet.

As both a consumer and clinician, there are ways we can participate both at home and in the clinic. To reduce our eco-footprint, we have the 5 R’s to guide us. They are Recycle, Re-think, Re-use, Refuse and Reduce. Each one of these actions can be mapped into one of the 5 elemental phases of energy* movement which are cycling through us each day.

Our actions are empowered when we move in accordance with natural energy flows. Use the following table and suggestions to reinforce your resolve to be part of the change needed.

Please feel free to share the above with your patients during Earth month. Encourage them to think about implementing the above ideas as part of their personal healing and the planet’s.

Now, in the clinic, the little things we do each day may seem insignificant, but over time the smallness builds up. If that small thing we do each day is done by millions around the world, the small thing is now a big issue.

The small thing I am referring to here is the use of individually packaged acupuncture needles or bulk packed needles that take up excessive space and use excess packaging resulting in needle waste.

Here’s how switching to Acufast needles effortlessly helps you be a part of the change. The 5 – phases of Acufast are:

If you have already switched to Acufast, fantastic! You are now not only applying the 5R’s as listed above, but you are planting trees with every two boxes of needles you use! If you haven’t switched yet, this is the month to do so.

Let’s all invest in the 5 phases of energy inherent in nature and do what we need to do in both our homes and in the clinic. April, as Earth Month, has the power of Spring to push for change and improve our ways! Use it! Together we can help restore our planet and ensure a healthy future for the next generations.

*All energy moves through yin yang cycles of low energy to high energy back to low energy. These cycles can be further broken down into phases that are distinct. They are as follows: energy in its lowest state, energy increasing, energy in its maximum state, energy in a stable state (not increasing nor decreasing), and energy decreasing. These distinct, observable phases are not only generative to each other but, in a tensegrity way, control each other such that the movement of energy as it flows through its cycle is harmonious. Health is an expression of the free flow of energy through all aspects of the individual (ie: body/mind/spirit). A TCM/Acupuncturist can use this knowledge to determine where in the cycle of the elemental phases an excess or deficiency is occurring that will contribute to a health imbalance. (Back to main article)

When we decided to create an Earth Friendly acupuncture needle, it was not out of a financial need, or a need for recognition, it was truly because as practitioners of Acu/TCM we were disheartened at the end of each clinic day with the amount of waste we generated. On top of that, scientists are putting out alarming statistics on the state of our planetary disharmony.

Our call to action was one to create a brand that had a low carbon footprint, and one that as many practitioners using acupuncture techniques could embrace.

As a result, we produce both coated and non-coated Acufast needles to suit the different needs of practitioners. Many practitioners want a relatively, sensation-free, insertion needle for their patients. This is by far the largest percentage of practitioners and thus we offer coated needles. Other types of practitioners, sports, and veterinarian practitioners, want more fascial pull on the needle, to activate the sinew channels. Also, they find that the needles stay put when muscles are twitching during electrostimulation sessions. The demand in this group is less and therefore we offer a limited number of sizes for the uncoated group.

This issue of whether the coating has a negative effect on the body is one that has arisen from time to time. As an acupuncturist, I actually have been quite involved since the early 90’s trying to uncover the story of why some needles entered into the body easily, and others created more sensation. Back then, no manufacturer revealed anything about how their needles were made. Through many inquiries, I finally discovered that some manufacturers coat their needles with a variety of substances. The Seirin brand needle, which became famous for being painless, was the first brand I discovered to have a silicone coating on the first 1/3 of the needle. Then, through further digging, I found that some manufacturers in China were coating the needle with non-medical grade silicone products, while others were even using machine oil! It was a wild, wild west of various standards of quality control, cost-cutting, and competition. As a concerned practitioner and company co-owner (Eastern Currents), when we discovered this, we made sure we verified the needle manufacturing methods and made it clear to our customers if a needle was coated or not. We were the first needle supplier in Canada to do so.

During all this research, I discovered that all hypodermic needles are coated with medical-grade silicone. As a result, as acupuncture became more accepted and popular, manufacturers of acupuncture needles started applying a coating to needles to reduce discomfort. There was one paper that I read in the ’90s that looked into the possibility of small amounts of silicone residue remaining in tissues after needle withdrawal. The article proposed that there may be some trace residue remaining and, in some patients, it may have negative effects. However, that article was over 25 years ago, and I have not seen any further follow-up on this. I have concluded that as no further reported data on this matter has emerged, even after billions of acupuncture needle insertions over the decades, that there is no serious concern about acupuncture needle coating.

However, having said that, some patients are allergic to silicone coating, or for that matter, different types of metal. These patients will respond with, itching, redness, and possible hives around the needle insertion areas. There are different types of stainless steel, different types of medical grade coating and different methods used to coat the needle (some leaving more coating on the shaft, others leaving only a microlayer on the shaft). All these factors can cause patients who are sensitive to have minor or more significant reactions. Mid-priced, to high-priced needles, are sure to use high-quality metals and coating materials. Therefore, practitioners should avoid bottom-of-the-barrel-priced needles as these needles will use inferior raw materials and are bound to create more reactions in sensitive patients.

Since I have researched this very extensively over the years, we made sure that our Acufast brand uses high-quality surgical steel and medical-grade lubricant. We also made sure that we offer both types of needles (coated and uncoated), to be able to treat all types of patients with a full choice of treatment styles.

Check with our distributors to see if they carry both versions of Acufast. If you want non-coated needles and don’t see them as an option, let the distributor know you are interested. If they get enough requests, they will start to carry the non-coated version too!

Thanks for being part of our change movement.

John Stan, DrTCM

We here at Acufast Needles are excited to share with you an endorsement of our efforts to reduce needle waste in our profession and our give back to Nature tree planting program. The Acupuncture Now Foundation has worked tirelessly to provide practitioners with resources to help them promote acupuncture in their community. They provide white papers, video clips, research papers and a database of practitioners in various countries. We encourage you to visit their site at https://www.acunow.org/ and review all the wonderful materials available to help support your efforts to promote awareness of the benefits of acupuncture. 

Here is what they had to say about our needles and our Acufast Movement with its Yin (reducing needle waste) and Yang (give back to Nature by planting trees) goals. We hope you join in with us and start being part of this exciting change movement!

Hello Friends of the ANF,

I am writing today to help raise awareness of a new development I think has been badly needed for many years now  – a new acupuncture needle and packaging system that greatly reduces waste (acu-trash).

The product is Acufast and this is the passion project of John Stan and Kelly Kitchen of Eastern Currents Ltd. They also are part of the team that puts together the great Net of Knowledge online resources.

As much as I like the idea of reducing the considerable waste disposable needles create, I let John know upfront that I would not be comfortable promoting these products if I did not like the needle quality.

I really, really like the needles. They have a metal wrap handle that is thinner than any I have ever seen and the needle itself is easily as painless as Seiren needles at a fraction of the cost.

Every aspect of the needling process as well as the needle, guide tubes, and their packaging has been reimagined to generate less waste and simplify needling. The Acufast folks even developed a tool to calculate just how much less waste you would generate using their products. It will blow your mind. That tool and a lot of information and videos can be found on the Acufast website www.acufastneedles.com.  Oh – and Acufast will plant a tree for every two boxes of needles you buy.

Acufast products are now available for purchase in the U.S. and Canada and will soon be available is the E.U., the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Links for U.S. and Canadian suppliers are below.

Canada: Eastern Currents Ltd
USA:   Golden Flower Chinese Herbs
USA: Lhasa OMS

Full disclosure.  Acufast has become a supporting sponsor of the ANF. They donate $100 a month to help us carry out our mission of educating people about acupuncture.  But, as I told John about the importance of needle quality, I would not be giving such a ringing personal endorsement of Acufast products if I did not really like these needles and truly believe this is an important step in the right direction for the acupuncture community.

Thanks everybody for taking the time to read this and your support of the ANF.

Stay well –

Matthew Bauer, L.Ac.