Pins And Needles
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Personal Care & Safety Products · CPSC Code 1669
Down 19% over 5 years
The verdict
Pins And Needles carry a danger score of 38/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 10,898 ER-treated injuries a year that are declining by about 19% over the last five years.
- 38/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 10,898
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 6.9%
- end in hospital admission
- 5-14
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 1669 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 38/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for pins and needles - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume10,898 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)6.9%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend-19%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Pins And Needles (CPSC product code 1669, in the Personal Care & Safety Products category) generate an estimated 10,898 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 217,955 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 38/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are declining by about 19% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2008 (12,960 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2023 (7,899 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for pins and needles is foreign body to the foot, accounting for approximately 47,170 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by puncture to the foot (22,779 cases). The 5-14 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 35,811 cases over the NEISS window, and females appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 6.9% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 0 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how pins and needles fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 6,445 | 5,469 | |
| 5-14 | 15,799 | 20,012 | |
| 15-24 | 11,109 | 21,517 | |
| 25-34 | 13,888 | 19,522 | |
| 35-44 | 12,765 | 18,624 | |
| 45-54 | 9,863 | 17,261 | |
| 55-64 | 8,472 | 13,826 | |
| 65-74 | 2,995 | 10,362 | |
| 75+ | 2,152 | 7,804 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Foot | Foreign Body | |
| Foot | Puncture | |
| Finger | Other | |
| Internal | Ingestion | |
| Finger | Puncture | |
| Finger | Foreign Body | |
| Toe | Foreign Body | |
| Foot | Other | |
| Hand | Other | |
| Hand | Puncture | |
| Face | Other | |
| Lower Trunk | Other | |
| Hand | Foreign Body | |
| Toe | Puncture | |
| Knee | Foreign Body |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
33YOM WAS USING A SEWING NEEDLE TO CLEAN HIS CELLPHONE AND THE TIP GOT STUCK UP UNDERNEATH HIS FINGERNAIL. DX: FOREIGN BODY IN RIGHT INDEX FINGER
43YOM COMPLAINS OF RIGHT FINGER PAIN FOR 2 DAYS. STATE HE WAS CLEANING OUT SOME TRASH AND THINKS HE WAS PRICKED AND POKED AND GOT SOMETHING STUCK IN HIS FINGER. REPORTS POKING FINGER WITH A NEEDLE TO TRY AND DRAIN IT. DX; PAIN OF FINGER, FELON OF RINGER OF RIGHT HAND.
41 YOM NOTED A BLISTER ON HIS RIGHT THIRD TOE HE WAS CONCERNED WAS A SPIDER BITE. HE TRIED POPPING IT WITH A NEEDLE. DX: BLISTER OF THIRD TOE.
50YOF WITH BREAST PAIN AFTER NOTICED A MASS AND INSERTED A NEEDLE INTO IT AND ASPIRATED PUS. UNSPECIFIED WHICH NEEDLE SHE USED DX: BREAST ABSCESS
34YOF PT C/O SEWING NEEDLE IN RT POINTER FINGER, BROKE OFF WHILE SEWING; + PUNCTURE NO DX
81YOF WITH FB IN FOOT AFTER WALKING IN HER HOUSE AND STEPPED ON SEWING NEEDLE. DX: FB IN SOFT TISSUE
25 YOF STEPPED ON A SEWING NEEDLE 3 DAYS AGO. +PAIN IN FOOT RADIATING UP HER LEG +SMALL ABRASION TO PLANTAR AREA OF FOOT. DX LEFT FOOT PAIN
9 YOF STEPPED ON A SEWING NEEDLE THAT BECAME EMBEDDED IN HER RIGHT FOOT, DX: FOREIGN BODY FOOT
51YOF C/O PUNCTURE WOUND TO FINGER S/P PT ARRIVED WITH AN IMPALED SEWING NEEDLE STUCK IN HER INDEX FINGER. DX: PUNCTURE WOUND TO FINGER
16MOM SWALLOWED A PIN. TRANSFER ***. DX: SWALLOWED FB
20YOF WOKE UP WITH PAIN IN FINGER AFTER THERE WAS A LARGE PIMPLE WHICH SHE POPPED WITH A NEEDLE. DX: PARONYCHIA OF FINGER OF RIGHT HAND
36YOF PRESENTED TO ED FOR EVALUATION OF RIGHT SHOULDER PAIN REDDNESS AND SWELLING. REPORTS PRIOR COCAINE, FENTANYL USE DISORDER BUT DENIES INJECTING INTO RIGHT SHOULDER. ALSO ENDORSES PAIN TO LEFT FOOT PAIN AFTER REPORTING SHE STEPPED ON A PIN OR NEEDLE AND FEELS IF NEEDLE IS RETAINED IN POSTERIOR FOOT. ED DX: ABCESS; CELLUTLITS, FOREIGN BODY IN LEFT FOOT
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to pins and needles on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are pins and needles?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, pins and needles have a danger score of 38/100 (low risk). An estimated 10,898 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from pins and needles?
The most common injury is foreign body to the foot, accounting for approximately 47,170 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from pins and needles increasing or decreasing?
Down 19% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for pins and needles injuries?
The 5-14 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 35,811 cases recorded over 20 years. Females are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by pins and needles?
Of all ER visits involving pins and needles, approximately 6.9% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (93.1%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with pins and needles?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Personal Care & Safety Products
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 38/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 5-14 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
