Force-IMU Fusion-Based Sensing Acupuncture Needle and Quantitative Analysis System for Acupuncture Manipulations

Abstract

Acupuncture, one of the key therapeutic methods in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has been widely adopted in various clinical fields. Quantitative research on acupuncture manipulation parameters is critical to achieve standardized techniques. However, quantitative mechanical detection of acupuncture parameters remains limited. This study establishes a kinematic and dynamic model of acupuncture, identifying key parameters such as lifting-thrusting force, acceleration, velocity, displacement, as well as twirling-rotating angular velocity and angle. To measure these critical parameters, we propose a quantitative system comprising a sensing needle equipped with a force sensor and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), as well as an external camera module to capture image information. By fusing visual and IMU data, we accurately identify the stationary or motion states of the needle, enabling segmented computation of lifting-thrusting velocity and displacement. The experimental results demonstrate that the sensing needle achieves comprehensive detection with high precision, featuring a nonlinearity error of 0.45% in force measurement and an RMSE of 1.2 mm in displacement. The extracted parameters provide an objective description of the operational characteristics and motion patterns of the four basic acupuncture manipulations. These findings provide valuable tools and methods for research in acupuncture standardization.