Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between needle retaining anddeqi. Methods Manual acupuncture was performed at the left ST36 of 26 naive healthy adult volunteers. Half of them retained the needles for 6 min and others were put the needle out immediately afterdeqi. Hemodynamic parameters of the anterior tibial artery were observed with color Doppler ultrasonography before and at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 min after acupuncture. Results There was significant difference in Vmax、Vm、Pi and Dist in anterior tibial artery before and 3 min after acupuncture, but wasn't between needle remaining and not. Conclusion Needle retaining cannot change the regional haemodynamics during acupuncture, which suggest it cannot strengthendeqi.

Key words: acupuncture, deqi, needle retaining, haemodynamics, anterior tibial artery