Analgesic effect of the acupuncture using the method of quick insertion and withdrawal of the needle in rats

The method of quick insertion and withdrawal of the needle (QIW) in acupuncture is a technique of stimulation not retaining the needle in the acupuncture point. We examined the analgesic effects of five different types of QIW along with the changes of stimulation quantity, time, and depth, and then compared the analgesic effect of the most effective QIW to that of plain acupuncture (PA). When tail-flick latency values between the strongest QIW-I group and PA group were compared, there was no significant difference (analyzed by t-test). These results indicate that QIW technique has an analgesic effect similar to PA technique and that the conditions, which for the QIW-I was shown the most effective analgesia, are a duration of 5 s at intervals of 1 s and at the depth of 3 mm.