Retaining and Withdrawing the Needle

Retaining. " Retaining " means to hold the needle in place after it is inserted to a given depth below the skin. Pathological conditions decide the retaining and its duration. In general, the needle is retained for fifteen to twenty minutes after the arrival of qi. But for some chronic, intractable, painful and spastic cases, the time for retaining of the needle may be appropriately prolonged. Meanwhile, manipulations may be given at intervals in order to strengthen the therapeutic effects. For some diseases the duration may last for several hours. For patients with a dull needling sensation, retaining the needle serves as a method to wait for qi to come.

Withdrawing. On withdrawing the needle, press the skin around the point with the thumb and index finger of the pressing hand, rotate the needle gently and lift it slowly to the subcutaneous level, then, withdraw it quickly and press the punctured point for a while to prevent bleeding.