Is Acupuncture More Effective If You Feel It More?

What is Deqi?

Deqi (de chi) is defined as a tingling, numbness, heaviness, or warming sensation felt when an acupuncture needle is manipulated.

Why does the deqi sensation occur?

Deqi occurs due to the various nerve fibers being stimulated by an acupuncture needle. “Aching, soreness, distention, heaviness, warmth and dull pain are conveyed by the slower conducting Aδ and C fibers, whereas numbness is conveyed by the faster conducting Aβ fibers.” (source: https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-7-33 )

Why do these sensations matter?

“Arrival of de-qi downregulated sympathetic nervous system activity and upregulated parasympathetic activity. This type of response was documented as producing healthy responses in heart rate variability, a measure of cardiac health.” (source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3781993/ )

Clinical Efficacy

Many acupuncturists report more favorable outcomes when deqi is elicited during a treatment. (However, this is anecdotal and more clinical trials are needed to concretely determine whether or not deqi needs to be elicited each time in order to produce results).