We all get them. And we all despise the pain. Injections. The dreaded but necessary part of life.

A practicing nurse, Joanne Helfer, published a method to give painless injections in the Journal Nurse Educator, November/December 2000.

The nurse would hold the syringe in one hand with the needle exposed ready for injection. With the other hand, the nurse makes a V between the thumb and the pointy finger and firmly taps around the injection site by the palm of the hand 3 times. With the third tapping strike by one hand, she simultaneously moves the exposed syringe needle with the other hand and inserts it into the skin in the V space between her palm and the pointy fingers.

Ms Helfer stated that 88% of injection recipients reported a painless injections experience using her technique. Tapping can be quite successful to decrease the injection pain. But it increases the chances of an accidental needle stick to the fingers of your tapping hand.

Recently, the FDA approved a device called Noodle that does the tapping for you. The tapping is much gentler than manual tapping. Noodle numbs the skin in seconds for a subcutaneous and intramuscular injection. It is ideal for self injectors as well. Learn more here.