Deviation of Needling Depth of Heart Meridian Acupuncture Points in Underweight and Overweight People

The depth of needle insertion is determined by the acupuncturist during the procedure based on the patient's sensory responses and motor responses that may occur at the tip of the inserted needle (De-qi reaction). Despite the existing specific recommendations and standards for the selection of acupuncture depth for almost all acupuncture points, the difficulty of performing acupuncture in patients with significant deviations in body weight from the norm remains. In this regard, we decided to determine the De-qi needling depth (DND) by the needling method and the safe needling depth (SND) by the ultrasound method of acupuncture points: HT1, HT2, HT3, HT4, HT5, HT6, HT7 in healthy people taking into account the body mass index (BMI). Materials and methods: 90 volunteers were examined by needling method to determine DND and by ultrasound to determinate the depth of underlying neurovascular structures and SND after converting individual Сun to millimeters. Results: DND of HT1, HT2, and HT3 were more superficial in UWG compared to HWG at 1.83 mm and deeper in OWG compared to HWG at 4.9 mm. In contrast, the DND deviation of HT4, HT5, HT6, HT7 was significant but mild in both groups, with a slight decrease in UWG compared to HWG of only 0.54 mm and a slight increase in OWG compared to HWG not exceeding 1.5 mm. Conclusion: The depth of the acupuncture points of the heart meridian HT1, HT, HT3 strongly depends on the degree of obesity in overweight people and is less responsive to body weight in underweight people. At the same time, changes in the points HT4, HT5, HT6 and HT7 have slight deviations in underweight and overweight people compared to people with healthy weight. Moreover, the depth of the heart meridian points is directly related to the depth of the underlying neuroarterial structures and weakly correlates with the Cun value in millimeters.