Objective To observe the analgesic effect of deqi induced by needling at Sanyinjiao(SP 6)on primary dysmenorrheal(PD)patients with cold damp stagnation syndrome(CDSS).Method A total of 64 PD patients with CDSS experiencing abdominal pain(≥40 mm in visual analogue scale

VAS)were randomly assigned into deqi-expectation(DE)group(n=15)and no-deqi-expectation(NDE)group(n=49).On the first day of abdominal pain attack

bilateral SP 6 were punctured respectively with thicker needles with deeper insertion for deqi-expectation patients and thin filiform needles with shallow insertion for no-deqi-expectation patients.The needles were removed after 30 minutes

adeqi scale was used to evaluate the deqi condition.According to the results

patients in the DE group were further divided into deqi DE group and no-deqi DE group

patients in the NDE group were also divided into deqi NDE group and no-deqi NDE group.The VAS was used to evaluate the patients' abdominal pain severity before treatment and 0

10

20

30 min after acupuncture needle withdrawal.Results The rate of deqi in the DE group was higher than that in the NDE group(P<0.05).The VAS scores of abdominal pain in the four groups were decreased at all time-points after needle withdrawal compared with those before treatment(P<0.01)

while the VAS score in the deqi DE group were lower than in the no-deqi NDE group 30 min after needle withdrawal(P<0.05).Conclusion The intervention method of thick needle

deep insertion and some manipulation is easier in inducing deqi than that of thin needle

shallow insertion and no manipulation.The analgesic effect of deqi is better than that of no-deqi for PD patients with CDSS.