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

Table 4

Correlation coefficients between the practitioner’s and the subject’s perceptions over four needling phases for the acupoint ST36.

	Practitioner’s perception
	Total	Thick	Tangled	Solid	Empty
Subject’s perception
Total	0.197; (P4: 0.228)	−0.006	0.174	0.182	0.150
Pain	0.239; (P4: 0.333)	0.225; (P1: 0.268); (P4: 0.281)	0.185; (P4: 0.276)	0.204; (P4: 0.319)	0.000
Transmission	0.118	0.091	0.143	0.072	0.029; (P2: 0.264)
Dullness	0.129	0.111	0.150	0.072	−0.043
Soreness	0.171	0.138	0.181	0.122	−0.013

, , 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).