Fu’s Subcutaneous Needling (Floating Acupuncture)

Fu’s Subcutaneous Needling (FSN), also called Floating Acupuncture, is a modern needling technique developed in China in 1996 by Dr Zhong-hua Fu. This page describes what it is and what a session involves.

The FSN needle is introduced only into the loose connective tissue immediately beneath the skin, and is then swayed gently from side to side while you make simple guided movements. It is not advanced into muscle.

How is FSN different from traditional acupuncture?

FSN grew out of acupuncture, but the technique is its own thing. Where traditional acupuncture places fine needles at chosen points, often into muscle, the FSN needle stays in the layer just beneath the skin — which is where the nickname “floating” comes from.

• The needle is not placed in the area being worked on. It is inserted a short distance away and angled towards it.
• Only one or two needles are usually used in a session, rather than the larger number in a typical acupuncture treatment.
• You take an active part. While the needle is gently swayed, you perform simple guided movements — what practitioners call the reperfusion approach.
• Things are re-checked during the session. Your practitioner will re-test movement as she goes, so you both have a sense of how you are responding.

What happens in a session?

Your practitioner first examines the area by gentle palpation. The FSN needle itself is closer to a very fine catheter than to an ordinary needle: a stainless-steel core gives it enough firmness to pass beneath the skin, inside a soft, flexible sleeve. Every needle is sterile and used once only.

After the skin is disinfected, the needle is introduced at a very shallow angle, glided forward parallel to the skin, and then swept smoothly from side to side for a couple of minutes while you make the guided movements. You may feel a brief prick as it goes in.

The steel core can then be withdrawn and the soft sleeve left in place under a small dressing for a few hours. It is flexible, so you can move about and go home as normal.

When FSN is not suitable

FSN is not appropriate for everyone or for every situation — for example where an area is swollen, hot or infected, or where pain is accompanied by numbness. Anything persistent or unexplained needs to be looked at by a doctor first, and we will say so rather than treat it.

At your consultation Dr Zhang will talk through whether FSN, acupuncture, a combination, or nothing at all is the sensible option for you, and will be honest about what treatment can and cannot do.

How many sessions?

That varies from person to person, and we would rather discuss it with you at a consultation than put a number on a web page. We review as we go and will tell you if it is not helping.