A survey of the practice and perspectives of chinese acupuncturists on deqi.

Author: Ren YL1, Guo TP1, Du HB1, Zheng HB2, Ma TT2, Fang L3, Gao YJ4, Yang XG5, Li XZ6, Shi J7, Chen L1, Liu YW1, Zhang RW1, Zheng H1, Li DH1, Wu X1, Liang FR1.
Affiliation: 1School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China. 2The Affiliated Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China. 3The Third Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310005, China. 4School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China. 5School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450008, China. 6School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, China. 7Yunnan Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming 650021, China.
Conference/Journal: Evid Based Complement Alternat Med.
Date published: 2015
Other: Volume ID: 2015 , Pages: 684708 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1155/2015/684708 , Word Count: 186



Deqi refers to the special sensation and reaction sensed mainly by both acupuncturist and patient when a needle was inserted into the acupoints and is considered to be vital to achieve acupuncture effect. For acupuncturist, it is important to judge and control Deqi in clinical practice. However, enough attention is paid to patients' feelings rather than acupuncturists' nowadays. We thus conducted this survey to determine acupuncturists' perspectives about Deqi and to further find the proper way to induce Deqi. A total of 250 questionnaires were sent out to acupuncturists and 202 (80.8%) were returned. According to the results, most acupuncturists believe that Deqi is vital to obtain preferable clinical effects. The reliability of acupuncturists' Deqi sensation ranks as sinking> tightening> astringent. The reliability of patients' Deqi sensations ranks as sourness> numbness> distention> heaviness> pain. The reliability of influential factors ranks as manipulation> specificity of acupoint> TCM constitution> disease status> patient's psychological condition> acupuncturists' psychological guidance> clinical environment. This study is believed to provide additional evidence to the qualitative and quantitative research of Deqi in the future.
PMID: 25960755