Acupuncture sensation, as one of the essential signs of deqi (arrival of qi), is closely associated with curative effect. With systematically reviewing the literature regarding relationship between acupuncture sensations of deqi and different organizational structures of acupoint area (skin, connective tissue, muscles, nerves and blood vessels), it is believed that acupuncture sensation of deqi is the product of various organizational structures in acupoint area, which is closely related to the nervous system. The deqi sensations sensed by the hands of acupuncturists, which is called sense of needle stagnation, maybe caused by the contraction of muscles in the acupoint area during the process of needle manipulation. By system review, this paper puts forward a new research idea to explore the role of different manipulations of needling in generating the sense of qi-generating needle based on different acupoint structure and brain function response system, which could provide some reference for clarifying the scientific mechanism and clinical application of acupuncture sensations of deqi.
Keywords: deqi (arrival of qi); needling sensations; organizational structure.