Smallest Needle for IM Injection?

Currently using 25g 5/8 inch needles and injecting in the delts. Wanted to go to a smaller needle but everything above 25g is 1/2 inch or less. Is 1/2 sufficient length for injecting IM in the delts? I’m not ripped but pretty lean so not a lot of fat to go through.

You’ll probably be fine with 1/2 inch. When I use a 25g 5/8 in my delt, I’m afraid I’ll go to deep.

I use 29g 1/2” in my delts, and I’m not super lean. Not super fat, either. I can usually feel when the needle is moving from subq fat into muscle - the resistance to me pushing it changes slightly.

Make sure the end of the needle is depressing your skin and inject slowly and you shouldn’t get any subq leakage.

Yes, 1/2 inch should be sufficient to get into the muscle in the deltoid muscle. Not a lot of fat there for most people. Studies I’ve seen is that it doesn’t really make a difference anyway between IM and subcutaneous in terms of absorption. More personal preference.

I’ve been using 28G 1/2 inch in the quadriceps for many years and it works just fine for me.

When i did smaller doses more frequently, i’d use 30g 1/2’’ into the delts without issue. There’s enough meat on there to sink the needle in just fine.

26G 7/8" (0,45x23 mm) is definitely ok for quad injection IM.
I’m about to checkout 27Gx 3/4" I hope it works good as well.

That’s what I currently use. So what would be the result of going too deep? You mean too deep into the muscle?

A standard shoulder delt injection at a dr. Office is 1” 25g, for almost everything. For an adult there is no way youre going to hit bone or anything with a 3/4” 5/8 needle. Been using that for 6 months, no issues.

It always seems like I’ll go through the muscle, but I never do.

I use 30g, 1/2", delt.