A Chinese man complaining about agonizing pains both in his chest and back discovered the source of his pain to be an acupuncture needle that had been stuck in his gut for close to 40 years, reports state.

60-year-old Xu Long from the south-eastern part of China first turned to doctors of acupuncture while serving in the military in 1974 when he sought treatment for a stomach ache which had been ongoing for two days.

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According to Xu, this was the only occasion when he sought out acupuncture as a cure for an illness.

Although the acupuncture treatment worked and relieved the torture at the time, he recently complained about pain in his chest and back, leading him to visit doctors.

Doctors reportedly told Xu that the pain was simply due to old age, and the worried patient even considered the possibility that he might have cancer.

When doctors decided to have him undergo an x-ray, they were stunned to discover that a four decade old acupuncture needle was still trapped inside Xu's body.

It appeared to have been cut in half and was around 3cm long. The needle had also turned black and became particularly thick due to decades of oxidation.

Physicians added that the needle probably travelled through his body and, in the span of those 40 years, must have slowly gone to different areas before ending up in his intestines, which was the culprit of all the agonizing pain.

Xu underwent surgery to ease the discomfort and reportedly is now pain-free. The 60-year-old expressed his relief at not only being pain-free, but at no longer having to worry about the threat of cancer, saying he has never felt better and is happy to have finally gotten the runaway needle removed.

Tagsacupuncture, Chinese man, Xu Long, acupuncture needle