Urinary retention is a condition in which urine accumulates in the bladder and the patient is unable to expel it on his or her own. It can be seen in the pathogenesis of many diseases and can occur at any age. Urinary retention is one of the common complications after general surgery and obstetrics and gynecology, with an incidence of up to 44%. It may be related to the stimulation of the bladder sphincter due to surgery, anesthesia, etc., causing its contraction or damage to the nerves innervating the bladder, thus preventing the normal discharge of urine. Other common causes of urinary retention include urinary retention caused by prostatic hyperplasia, postpartum urinary retention, urinary retention after spinal cord injury, urinary retention after cerebrovascular accident, and nervousness-type urinary retention. Patients with urinary retention mostly present with obvious urinary urge accompanied by lower abdominal pain and anxiety, which brings considerable pain to patients and their families. At present, clinical measures such as local hot compresses and listening to the sound of running water are generally used to prevent and treat urinary retention, and catheterization is often adopted to assist patients in urination when it is ineffective, but this will cause some physical and psychological trauma to the patients. Long-term urinary retention can cause excessive bladder expansion and pressure increase, and ureteral reflux, which can cause ureteral and nephrolithiasis, secondary urinary tract infection, secondary reflux nephropathy, etc., which can eventually lead to renal function damage, and even renal failure and renal necrosis. Therefore, urinary retention must be given sufficient attention, and active and effective preventive and therapeutic measures should be taken. Chinese medicine calls this disease “retention of urine” and believes that it is mostly caused by unfavorable bladder qi or deficiency of kidney qi and damp-heat obstruction, etc. The location of the disease is in the bladder, but it is closely related to the lung, spleen, liver, kidney and Sanjiao. Acupuncture can regulate the meridians of the bladder, liver, spleen, kidney and Sanjiao and the meridian qi of the Ren channel, regulate the qi-chemistry function of the bladder and regulate the water metabolism of the internal organs to achieve the purpose of treating urinary retention. Modern research proves that the therapeutic effect of acupuncture is largely obtained by regulating the function of the nervous system. Acupuncture can stimulate the central nerve of the sacral medulla for urination, which excites the parasympathetic nerve, causing the contraction of the bladder forced urinary muscle and the opening of the internal sphincter, resulting in urination. When the needle body enters the pelvic cavity during acupuncture, it can stimulate the nerves around the tip of the needle, such as the pubic nerve, sacral plexus and pelvic plexus, so that the nerve impulses are transmitted to the centers at all levels that govern the function of the lower urinary tract, and regulate the excitability of these centers, thus changing the excitability of these nerve efferents and realizing the regulatory effect on the function of the lower urinary tract. Because the contraction of the bladder is mainly controlled by nerves, acupuncture is very effective for those with urinary retention caused by non-obstructive reasons such as neurological malfunction, especially for postoperative and postpartum urinary retention and urinary incontinence caused by neurogenic bladder. The acupuncture room of TCM department adopts acupuncture to treat urinary retention with sure effect and no side effects. If combined with hot compress, TDP physiotherapy and TCM massage and pointing techniques, it can further improve the efficacy, and most patients can make urine discharge and bladder function return to normal in a shorter time. If you cannot urinate for about 1 hour after acupuncture and the bladder is overfilled, you can first catheterize. Patients with long-term indwelling catheters should be observed with acupuncture several times before removing the catheter.