Fu’s Subcutaneous Needling (FSN), originated from Chinese traditional acupuncture, is a therapeutic approach for pain related issues, especially for musculoskeletal painful disorders. This procedure is performed by inserting a special trocar needle into the subcutaneous layer. In some cases, FSN could provide immediate and significant relief of the pain in trigger points.

Although FSN originated from traditional acupuncture, its manipulation and theory have little to do with the concepts of acupuncture, such as meridians, acupoints, Yin-Yang, and Qi. Also FSN should be clearly distinguished from the narrow sense of dry needling, which is well known in the Western medical world. Dry Needling, which refers to the insertion of a fine, single-use sterile needle, into a trigger point for myofascial pain based on Western anatomical and neuro-physiological principles. However, the manipulation method used in FSN differs from that used in dry needling because each one follows different theoretical instructions.

After the insertion of the FSN needle, the manipulation of the FSN needle called sweeping movement is applied. Based on patient’s condition, reperfusion approaches are quite common method used during the treatment. FSN can relieve muscle contraction from trigger points and then improve the local circulation.