Figure 1. Mechanical acupuncture instrument (MAI).

A, B: In traditional manual acupuncture, a needle is manually stimulated by manipulating the handle of the needle with an index finger after being inserted into acupoints (A). Manipulating a needle (arrows) elicited abrupt increases of intensity, but with considerable variations in peak values of intensity (B). C, D: With the novel MAI, a cell phone motor is connected to the acuneedle to create a constant vibration of the needle and operated by a control unit for adjustment of intensity (acceleration), frequency and operation time (C). The acceleration parameter of 1.3 m/sec² in intensity and 85 Hz in frequency was routinely used throughout our experiments (D).