Deqi Is Double-Faced: The Acupuncture Practitioner’s and the Subject’s Perspective

Table 3

Correlation coefficients between the practitioner’s and the subject’s perceptions over four needling phases for the acupoint LI4.

	Practitioner’s perception
	Total	Thick	Tangled	Solid	Empty
Subject’s perception
Total	0.215; (P4: 0.233)	0.173; (P1: 0.260)	0.184	0.182; (P4: 0.242)	−0.039
Pain	0.194; (P3: 0.269)	0.183	0.134; (P3: 0.247)	0.170; (P3: 0.227)	−0.011
Transmission	0.119	0.084	0.122	0.091	0.041
Dullness	0.191; (P4: 0.286)	0.128; (P4: 0.274)	0.172	0.179; (P4: 0.309)	−0.117
Soreness	0.180	0.142	0.200	0.112	−0.053

, , and by Pearson correlation analysis over four phases () or each one of four needling phases (, value in parentheses). P represents a needling phase number: (1) insertion into shallow depth (approximately 0.3 cm), (2) advancement into moderate depth (approximately 0.6 cm), (3) advancement into deep depth (approximately 0.9 cm), and (4) twirling once a second for 10 seconds.
Four-phase method: insertion into shallow (P1), middle (P2), and deep depths (P3), followed by twirling manipulation (P4).