Pain in Woman’s Leg Turns Out to be a Needle Lodged Deep Inside

Pain in Woman’s Leg Turns Out to be a Needle Lodged Deep Inside
A woman sewing in a factory in China. (China Photos/Getty Images)
Daniel Holl
5/8/2019
Updated:
9/6/2019

A needle was found deep inside a woman’s leg, which had been causing her pain for about half a month. After receiving an X-ray, doctors found the needle embedded in her thigh, and used surgical means to remove it.

The woman, surnamed Li, 55, said she may have accidentally stuck herself with the needle while sewing in March. Li had the needle removed toward the end of April, according to a report on May 6 from mainland Chinese media ThePaper.cn.

The orthopedic head doctor responsible for the operation, named Lian Xiao, said the needle was about 1 to 1.5 inches long (3 to 4 centimeters), and being so thin made it hard to find after it stuck into her, according to the Beijing News.

A Needle in Her Leg

Li said she felt pain in her leg since March, according to ThePaper.cn. At the time, she was sewing buttons for her nephew. Li remembered taking a break from her work. She said she had the habit of leaving a needle inside clothing. When Li resumed her sewing, she said she wasn’t paying attention and may have accidentally let the needle pierce her.

“This needle is really thin, so when it pierced the skin, the pain could have been just momentary,” Lian told the Beijing News. “After it pierced her skin, since it was thin, it was able to move around.”

The doctor told the Beijing News that she couldn’t even find the injury after it happened.

Li said that since the beginning of April, she would feel a lot of pain in her leg if she sat for a long period of time or walked around.

“I bought lots of medical creams to put on [my leg], but none of them did anything,” Li told ThePaper.cn. “I got antibiotic medicine from the local hospitals too, which helped the inflamed part on the back of my leg, but it still hurt.”

“There was a bump too, and it hurt when I touched it.”

Finally, she came to the orthopedic department of a local hospital, and an X-ray revealed the needle deep in her thigh. The needle had moved so much that it was now facing upward in her leg.

“Since she was walking around for for about half a month with the needle stuck in her leg, that may have caused it to move around,” Lian told the Beijing News.

“She was really surprised,” Lian said. “At the time, she couldn’t even think of how the needle got stuck into her.”

Daniel Holl is a Sacramento, California-based reporter, specializing in China-related topics. He moved to China alone and stayed there for almost seven years, learning the language and culture. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
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