title: A survey of the practice and perspectives of chinese acupuncturists on deqi.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Tai-Pin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5298-8132
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Huai-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: The Affiliated Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: The Affiliated Hospital, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: The Third Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310005, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan 750004, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450008, China.
authors.forename: Xu-Guang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 401331, China.
authors.forename: Xue-Zhi
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Yunnan Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Kunming 650021, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Ru-Wen
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1975-3307
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: De-Hua
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu 610075, China.
authors.forename: Fan-Rong
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Liang