1. Needles: The Pacific Wellness Institute uses the thinnest needles available on the market (0.12 mm in diameter) -they are thinner than human hair. They are also more than 2 times thinner than the needles typically used in most North American acupuncture clinics.
2. Guiding Tube: The PWI acupuncturists use specially designed guiding tubes to insert the needle. Guiding tubes, which were invented in the 17th century by a talented and blind Japanese acupuncturist named Waichi Sugiyama, significantly decrease the pain and stinging sensation when the needle is inserted.
3. Their Technique: Technique plays the biggest role in achieving painless needling. The PWI acupuncturists have spent years in training refining their painless acupuncture techniques. Inserting and manipulating thin, fine and extremely soft needles without bending them requires highly sensitive skills.
4. Needling Depth: The PWI acupuncturists use and specialize in a superficial acupuncture needling technique. The acupuncture needles are usually inserted less than a few millimetres in depth.

Some acupuncturists believe that in order to produce a significant effect one must insert needles deeper and administer a much stronger stimulation; however, this is not necessarily true. Many Japanese practitioners clinically observe significant improvement in their patient's condition using an extremely gentle superficial needling technique. A mid-90's scientific study (Tanaka, H.T. et al., International Journal of Neuroscience in 1996) indicated that very gentle superficial needling stimulation produces an immensely favorable response in the human physiological system. The study demonstrated that a very small amount of superficial stimulation produces significant responses in the body when applied skillfully with consideration of the patient's physiological condition. The goal, therefore, is to deliver the most effective treatment for a patient's condition while providing the most comfortable treatment experience.