Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on a pre-scientific paradigm of medicine that developed over several thousand years and involves concepts that have no counterpart within contemporary medicine.TCM is based in part on Daoism, with a belief that all parts of the universe are interconnected.
Qi, acupuncture meridians and points
According to the Chinese medical classic the Neijing Suwen, disease is believed to be produced by a failure to live in accord with the Dao. Within the more systematized teachings of received Chinese medicine there are endogenous, exogenous and miscellaneous causes of disease. In science-based medicine, disease is attributed to specific (often single) causes, for example bacteria, viruses, or genetic conditions. In contrast to the approach of evidence-based medicine which is based on the germ theory of disease, human anatomy and human physiology, Traditional Chinese Medicine attributes disease and pathology to perturbations in the metaphysical force known as qi (a word variously translated as "energy", "breath", or "vital energy"', and imbalance of yin and yang, and the Wu Xing (known as the five phases or elements, earth, water, fire, wood and metal). Qi is believed to flow in and around the body in channels called meridians. Heart-qi is believed to be a force that causes the blood to circulate through the body, whereas in science-based medicine, the blood is propelled by the heart pumping it. Modern practioners may consider qi to be no more than a metaphor for function, but many proponents consider it to be an actual 'substance'. Research on the electrical activity of acupuncture points lacks a standardized methodology and reporting protocols, and is generally of poor quality.
No force corresponding to qi (or yin and yang) has been found in the sciences of physics or human physiology. Support for the existence of qi is often looked for in scientific fields such as bioelectricity but this research is rarely verified and the connection with qi may be spurious.
The location of meridians is said in the Ling Shu to be based on the number of rivers flowing through the ancient Chinese empire, and acupuncture points were originally derived from Chinese astrological calculations. and do not correspond to any anatomical structure. "It is because of the twelve Primary channels that people live, that disease is formed, that people are treated and disease arises.". Channel theory reflects the limitations in the level of scientific development at the time of its formation, and therefore reflects the philosophical idealism and metaphysics of its period. That which has continuing clinical value needs to be reexamined through practice and research to determine its true nature.
The anatomical system of TCM divides the body's organs into "hollow" and "solid" organs, for example, the intestines are "hollow", and the heart or liver are "solid". It is believed that solid organs are related, and hollow organs are related, and that there is a balance between the two "systems" of organs which is important to health. The zang systems are associated with the solid yin organs such as the liver, while the fu systems are associated with the hollow yang organs such as the intestines. Health is explained as a state of balance between the yin and yang, with disease ascribed to either of these forces being unbalanced, blocked or stagnant.
It is believed that through birth or early childhood, a “weakness” in one of the five elements develops until it impedes the flow of qi cycling throughout the body, causing the symptoms of illness. Acupuncture is described as manipulating the qi to restore balance. TCM also links the organs of the body to the stars, planets and astrological beliefs to explain the phenomena of the persistence of health and illness in the human body.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
History of Acunpuncture
Antiquity
The earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji (史記, English: Records of the Grand Historian) with elaboration of its history in the 2nd century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經, English: Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon).
Acupuncture's origins in China are uncertain. One explanation is that some soldiers wounded in battle by arrows were believed to have been cured of chronic afflictions that were otherwise untreated, and there are variations on this idea. Sharpened stones known as Bian shi have been found in China, suggesting the practice may date to the Neolithic or possibly even earlier in the Stone Age. Hieroglyphs and pictographs have been found dating from the Shang Dynasty (1600–1100 BCE) which suggest that acupuncture was practiced along with moxibustion.
Despite improvements in metallurgy over centuries, it was not until the 2nd century BCE during the Han Dynasty that stone and bone needles were replaced with metal.[26] The earliest records of acupuncture is in the Shiji (史記, in English, Records of the Grand Historian) with references in later medical texts that are equivocal, but could be interpreted as discussing acupuncture. The earliest Chinese medical text to describe acupuncture is the Huangdi Neijing, the legendary Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (History of Acupuncture) which was compiled around 305–204 BCE.
The Huangdi Neijing does not distinguish between acupuncture and moxibustion and gives the same indication for both treatments. The Mawangdui texts, which also date from the 2nd century BCE (though antedating both the Shiji and Huangdi Neijing), mention the use of pointed stones to open abscesses, and moxibustion but not acupuncture. However, by the 2nd century BCE, acupuncture replaced moxibustion as the primary treatment of systemic conditions.
In Europe, examinations of the 5,000-year-old mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman have identified 15 groups of tattoos on his body, some of which are located on what are now seen as contemporary acupuncture points. This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practiced elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age.
Middle history
Acupuncture spread from China to Korea, Japan and Vietnam and elsewhere in East Asia.
Around ninety works on acupuncture were written in China between the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and the Emperor Renzong of Song, in 1023, ordered the production of a bronze statuette depicting the meridians and acupuncture points then in use. However, after the end of the Song Dynasty, acupuncture lost status, and started to be seen as a technical profession, in comparison to the more scholarly profession of herbalism. It became rarer in the following centuries, and was associated with less prestigious practices like alchemy, shamanism, midwifery and moxibustion.
Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century were among the first to bring reports of acupuncture to the West. Jacob de Bondt, a Danish surgeon traveling in Asia, described the practice in both Japan and Java. However, in China itself the practice was increasingly associated with the lower-classes and illiterate practitioners.
The first European text on acupuncture was written by Willem ten Rhijne, a Dutch physician who studied the practice for two years in Japan. It consisted of an essay in a 1683 medical text on arthritis; Europeans were also at the time becoming more interested in moxibustion, which Rhijne also wrote about. In 1757 the physician Xu Daqun described the further decline of acupuncture, saying it was a lost art, with few experts to instruct; its decline was attributed in part to the popularity of prescriptions and medications, as well as its association with the lower classes.
In 1822, an edict from the Chinese Emperor banned the practice and teaching of acupuncture within the Imperial Academy of Medicine outright, as unfit for practice by gentlemen-scholars. At this point, acupuncture was still cited in Europe with both skepticism and praise, with little study and only a small amount of experimentation.
Modern era
In the early years after the Chinese Civil War, Chinese Communist Party leaders ridiculed traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, as superstitious, irrational and backward, claiming that it conflicted with the Party's dedication to science as the way of progress. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong later reversed this position, saying that "Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure house and efforts should be made to explore them and raise them to a higher level."
Acupuncture gained attention in the United States when President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972. During one part of the visit, the delegation was shown a patient undergoing major surgery while fully awake, ostensibly receiving acupuncture rather than anesthesia. Later it was found that the patients selected for the surgery had both a high pain tolerance and received heavy indoctrination before the operation; these demonstration cases were also frequently receiving morphine surreptitiously through an intravenous drip that observers were told contained only fluids and nutrients.
The greatest exposure in the West came when New York Times reporter James Reston, who accompanied Nixon during the visit, received acupuncture in China for post-operative pain after undergoing an emergency appendectomy under standard anesthesia. Reston experienced pain relief from the acupuncture and wrote it in The New York Times. In 1973 the American Internal Revenue Service allowed acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense.
In 2006, a BBC documentary Alternative Medicine filmed a patient undergoing open heart surgery allegedly under acupuncture-induced anesthesia. It was later revealed that the patient had been given a cocktail of weak anesthetics that in combination could have a much more powerful effect. The program was also criticized for its fanciful interpretation of the results of a brain scanning experiment.
The use of acupuncture as anesthesia for surgery has fallen out of favor with scientifically trained surgeons in China. A delegation of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry reported in 1995: We were not shown acupuncture anesthesia for surgery, this apparently having fallen out of favor with scientifically trained surgeons. Dr. Han, for instance, had been emphatic that he and his colleagues see acupuncture only as an analgesic (pain reducer), not an anesthetic (an agent that blocks all conscious sensations).
The earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji (史記, English: Records of the Grand Historian) with elaboration of its history in the 2nd century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經, English: Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon).
Acupuncture's origins in China are uncertain. One explanation is that some soldiers wounded in battle by arrows were believed to have been cured of chronic afflictions that were otherwise untreated, and there are variations on this idea. Sharpened stones known as Bian shi have been found in China, suggesting the practice may date to the Neolithic or possibly even earlier in the Stone Age. Hieroglyphs and pictographs have been found dating from the Shang Dynasty (1600–1100 BCE) which suggest that acupuncture was practiced along with moxibustion.
Despite improvements in metallurgy over centuries, it was not until the 2nd century BCE during the Han Dynasty that stone and bone needles were replaced with metal.[26] The earliest records of acupuncture is in the Shiji (史記, in English, Records of the Grand Historian) with references in later medical texts that are equivocal, but could be interpreted as discussing acupuncture. The earliest Chinese medical text to describe acupuncture is the Huangdi Neijing, the legendary Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (History of Acupuncture) which was compiled around 305–204 BCE.
The Huangdi Neijing does not distinguish between acupuncture and moxibustion and gives the same indication for both treatments. The Mawangdui texts, which also date from the 2nd century BCE (though antedating both the Shiji and Huangdi Neijing), mention the use of pointed stones to open abscesses, and moxibustion but not acupuncture. However, by the 2nd century BCE, acupuncture replaced moxibustion as the primary treatment of systemic conditions.
In Europe, examinations of the 5,000-year-old mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman have identified 15 groups of tattoos on his body, some of which are located on what are now seen as contemporary acupuncture points. This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practiced elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age.
Middle history
Acupuncture spread from China to Korea, Japan and Vietnam and elsewhere in East Asia.
Around ninety works on acupuncture were written in China between the Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, and the Emperor Renzong of Song, in 1023, ordered the production of a bronze statuette depicting the meridians and acupuncture points then in use. However, after the end of the Song Dynasty, acupuncture lost status, and started to be seen as a technical profession, in comparison to the more scholarly profession of herbalism. It became rarer in the following centuries, and was associated with less prestigious practices like alchemy, shamanism, midwifery and moxibustion.
Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century were among the first to bring reports of acupuncture to the West. Jacob de Bondt, a Danish surgeon traveling in Asia, described the practice in both Japan and Java. However, in China itself the practice was increasingly associated with the lower-classes and illiterate practitioners.
The first European text on acupuncture was written by Willem ten Rhijne, a Dutch physician who studied the practice for two years in Japan. It consisted of an essay in a 1683 medical text on arthritis; Europeans were also at the time becoming more interested in moxibustion, which Rhijne also wrote about. In 1757 the physician Xu Daqun described the further decline of acupuncture, saying it was a lost art, with few experts to instruct; its decline was attributed in part to the popularity of prescriptions and medications, as well as its association with the lower classes.
In 1822, an edict from the Chinese Emperor banned the practice and teaching of acupuncture within the Imperial Academy of Medicine outright, as unfit for practice by gentlemen-scholars. At this point, acupuncture was still cited in Europe with both skepticism and praise, with little study and only a small amount of experimentation.
Modern era
In the early years after the Chinese Civil War, Chinese Communist Party leaders ridiculed traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, as superstitious, irrational and backward, claiming that it conflicted with the Party's dedication to science as the way of progress. Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong later reversed this position, saying that "Chinese medicine and pharmacology are a great treasure house and efforts should be made to explore them and raise them to a higher level."
Acupuncture gained attention in the United States when President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972. During one part of the visit, the delegation was shown a patient undergoing major surgery while fully awake, ostensibly receiving acupuncture rather than anesthesia. Later it was found that the patients selected for the surgery had both a high pain tolerance and received heavy indoctrination before the operation; these demonstration cases were also frequently receiving morphine surreptitiously through an intravenous drip that observers were told contained only fluids and nutrients.
The greatest exposure in the West came when New York Times reporter James Reston, who accompanied Nixon during the visit, received acupuncture in China for post-operative pain after undergoing an emergency appendectomy under standard anesthesia. Reston experienced pain relief from the acupuncture and wrote it in The New York Times. In 1973 the American Internal Revenue Service allowed acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense.
In 2006, a BBC documentary Alternative Medicine filmed a patient undergoing open heart surgery allegedly under acupuncture-induced anesthesia. It was later revealed that the patient had been given a cocktail of weak anesthetics that in combination could have a much more powerful effect. The program was also criticized for its fanciful interpretation of the results of a brain scanning experiment.
The use of acupuncture as anesthesia for surgery has fallen out of favor with scientifically trained surgeons in China. A delegation of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry reported in 1995: We were not shown acupuncture anesthesia for surgery, this apparently having fallen out of favor with scientifically trained surgeons. Dr. Han, for instance, had been emphatic that he and his colleagues see acupuncture only as an analgesic (pain reducer), not an anesthetic (an agent that blocks all conscious sensations).
Acupuncture Needle
The needles are from Φ 0.12 to Φ 0.45, lengths are from 13mm to 125mm.
Cat. No. | Without tube | With tube | 5 needles/tube |
Copper handle needle | 11001 | 11002 | 11003 |
| Silver handle needle | 11004 | 11005 | 11006 |
| Plastic handle needle | 11007 | 11008 | 11009 |
| Steel-wire handle needle | 11010 | 11011 | 11012 |
| Steel-tube handle needle | 11013 | 11014 | 11015 |
| Aluminum handle needle | 11016 | 11017 | 11018 |
| Nickel-plated handle needle | 11019 | 11020 | 11021 |
| All gold-plated needle | 11022 | 11023 | 11024 |
Advanced Acupuncture Needle
| Cat. No. | Description |
| 11010F | steel wire handle finger needle |
| 11016D | aluminum detox needle |
| 11007D | plastic handle detox needle |
| 11017SS | aluminum handle needle, with silicone coat and safe guide |
| 11003S | copper handle needle, 5 needles/tube, with silicone coat |
| 11006S | silver handle needle, 5 needles/tube, with silicone coat |
| 11001S | copper handle needle, without tube, with silicone coat |
| 11007S | plastic handle needle, with silicone coat |
| 11005S | silver handle needle, with tube and silicone coat |
| 11007I | injection plastic handle needle, without tube |
| 11008I | injection plastic handle needle, with tube |
Acupuncture Point Diagram
Acupuncture Points Diagram
A simple, nice, clear diagram showing you the Acupuncture Point. The diagram is useful for anyone interested in learning about Acupuncture Points. We hope you like the Acupuncture Point Diagrams & Charts displayed on this site below.
Acupuncture point
Acupuncture points are locations on the body that are the focus of acupuncture, acupressure, sonopuncture and laser acupuncture treatment. Several hundred acupuncture points are considered to be located along meridians (connected points across the anatomy which affect a specific organ or other part of the body). There are also numerous "extra points" not associated with a particular meridian.
They are different from Japanese shiatsu points,[citation needed] although Japanese acupuncture uses TCM acupuncture points.
Despite considerable efforts to understand the anatomy and physiology of the "acupuncture points", the definition and characterization of these points remains controversial. Research has been published suggesting acupuncture points may be associated activation of specific brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging or areas of low electrical impedance in the body but overall evidence for the anatomical existence of acupuncture points is not compelling.
Acupoints used in treatment may or may not be in the same area of the body as the targeted symptom. The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory for the selection of such points and their effectiveness is that they work by stimulating the meridian system to bring about relief by rebalancing yin, yang and qi (also spelled "chi" or "ki"). This theory is based on the paradigm of TCM and has no analogue in western medicine.
Location by palpation for tenderness is also a common way of locating acupoints (see also trigger point). Points may also be located by feeling for subtle differences in temperature on the skin surface or over the skin surface, as well as changes in the tension or "stickiness" of the skin and tissue. There is no scientific proof that this method works and some practitioners disagree with the method.
Scientific research
They are different from Japanese shiatsu points,[citation needed] although Japanese acupuncture uses TCM acupuncture points.
Despite considerable efforts to understand the anatomy and physiology of the "acupuncture points", the definition and characterization of these points remains controversial. Research has been published suggesting acupuncture points may be associated activation of specific brain areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging or areas of low electrical impedance in the body but overall evidence for the anatomical existence of acupuncture points is not compelling.
Theory
Acupoints used in treatment may or may not be in the same area of the body as the targeted symptom. The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory for the selection of such points and their effectiveness is that they work by stimulating the meridian system to bring about relief by rebalancing yin, yang and qi (also spelled "chi" or "ki"). This theory is based on the paradigm of TCM and has no analogue in western medicine.
Body acupoints are generally located using a measurement unit, called the cun, that is calibrated according to their proportional distances from various landmark points on the body. Acupoint location usually depends on specific anatomical landmarks that can be palpated. Many of these basic points are rarely used. Some points are considered more therapeutically valuable than others, and are used very frequently for a wide array of health conditions.
Points tend to be located where peripheral nerves enter a muscle, the midpoint of the muscle, or at the enthesis where the muscle joins with the bone.
Location by palpation for tenderness is also a common way of locating acupoints (see also trigger point). Points may also be located by feeling for subtle differences in temperature on the skin surface or over the skin surface, as well as changes in the tension or "stickiness" of the skin and tissue. There is no scientific proof that this method works and some practitioners disagree with the method.
Body acupoints are referred to either by their traditional name, or by the name of the meridian on which they are located, followed by a number to indicate what order the point is in on the meridian. A common point on the hand, for example, is named Hegu, and referred to as LI 4 which means that it is the fourth point on the Large Intestine meridian.
Acupuncture points often have allusive, poetic names that developed over the course of centuries, often involving synonyms to ensure similar points are located on the appropriate limb. A total of 360 points are generally recognized, but the number of points has changed over the centuries. Roughly 2/3 of the points are considered "yang", while the remaining 1/3 are considered "yin"
Acupoints tubuh disebut baik oleh nama tradisional mereka, atau dengan nama meridian di mana mereka berada, diikuti oleh sejumlah untuk menunjukkan urutan apa intinya adalah dalam pada meridian. Sebuah titik yang sama di tangan, misalnya, bernama Hegu, dan disebut sebagai LI 4 yang berarti bahwa itu adalah titik keempat pada meridian Usus Besar.
Titik akupunktur sering memiliki kiasan, nama puitis yang dikembangkan selama berabad-abad, sering melibatkan sinonim untuk memastikan poin serupa terletak pada anggota tubuh yang sesuai. Sebanyak 360 poin umumnya diakui, namun jumlah titik telah berubah selama berabad-abad. Sekitar 2 / 3 dari titik-titik yang dianggap "Yang", sedangkan sisanya 1 / 3 dianggap "yin"
Scientific research
Overall there is only preliminary evidence to suggest acupuncture points exist. There are no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points. Acupuncturist Felix Mann stated that "...acupuncture points are no more real than the black spots that a drunkard sees in front of his eyes." A 1997 NIH consensus statement has observed that "Despite considerable efforts to understand the anatomy and physiology of the 'acupuncture points', the definition and characterization of these points remains controversial. Even more elusive is the basis of some of the key traditional Eastern medical concepts such as the circulation of Qi, the meridian system, and the five phases theory, which are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information but continue to play an important role in the evaluation of patients and the formulation of treatment in acupuncture."
There are several plausible theories for how acupuncture works or what acupuncture points are, but for now none of these theories have been conclusively proven. Acupuncture points may exhibit low electrical resistance and impedance but this evidence is mixed, and limited by poor-quality studies with small sample sizes and multiple confounds. Research using functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography have suggested certain traditional acupuncture points may be linked to the activation of specific centers in the brain, and may present an explanation for their association with specific medical conditions in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Acupuncture for Headache
- Headache occurs in various diseases in Western medicine, e.g. tension headache, angioneurotic headache, meningitis, headache due to hypertension, cerebral ateriosclerosis, skull trauma and sequelae of cerebral concussion. Pain usually occurs in the forehead, the vertex, the temporal region, or even the whole head.
- 【Treatment】
- (1) Acupuncture
- Therapeutic principles: To dredge meridians and activate collaterals, and promote circulation of qi and blood, for which acupuncture is often used with the method of reinforcement and reduction for deficiency syndrome and the excess syndrome respectively.
- Prescription: Local points combined with distal points:
- Yangming headache, or pain in the forehead: Shangxing (GV23), Touwei (ST8), Hegu (LI4), Ashi points
- Shaoyang headache, or migraine: Shuaigu (GB8), Taiyang (EX-HN5), Xiaxi (GB43), Ashi points
- Taiyang headache, or occipital headache: Houding (GV19), Tianzhu (BL10), Kunlun (BL60), Ashi points
- Jueyin headache, or pain in the vertex: Baihui (GV20), Tongtian (BL7), Xingjian (LR2), Ashi points
- Pain all over the head: Baihui (GV20), Yintang (EX-HN3), Taiyang (EX-HN5), Touwei (ST8), Yangbai(GB14), Hegu (LI4), Fengchi (GB20), Waiguan (TE5)
- (2) Moxibustion with a Warm Needle
- It is usually used to treat headache due to cold and wind.
- (3) Dermal Needling
- It is usually used to treat headaches due to invasion of meridians by wind and hyperactivity of liver yang.
- (4) Ear Acupuncture
- 2~3 of occiput (AT3), forehead (AT1), brain (AT3,4i) and ear-Shenmen (TF4) are selected each time with strong stimulation.
- The duration of retention of needles depends on alleviation of headache. Besides, the cowherb seed embedding method is employed. For obstinate headache bloodletting is applied to the veins of the back of the ear.
- 【Remarks】
- It is most effective for headache with acupuncture. Some functional headache can be cured and symptoms of organic headache can be relieved. However, the primary disease should be dealt with, or deterioration occurs.
Acupuncture for Lower Back Pain
- It is commonly seen in injury to the soft tissues of the lower back, rheumatism, lumbar spondylosis, intervertebral disc disorders, and some problems of the internal organs, characterized by lower back pain.
- 【Treatment】
- (1) Acupuncture
- Treating principles: To warm meridians to disperse cold for lower back pain caused by cold and dampness, or activate blood circulation and resolve stasis for lower back pain caused by stagnation of blood, or reinforce the kidney and lower back for lower back pain caused by deficiency in the kidney. Acupuncture and moxibustion are used together.
-
- Prescription: Shenshu (BL23), Weizhong (BL40), Jiaji (EX-B2), and Ashi points
- Subsidiary points:
- Cold and dampness—Fengfu (GV16), Yaoyangguan (GV3)
- Chronic lumbar sprain—Geshu (BL17), Ciliao (BL32)
- Deficiency in the kidney—Mingmen (GV4), Zhishi (BL52), Taixi (KI3)
- (2) Pricking-Cupping Bloodletting
- It is especially effective for lower back pain caused by cold and dampness, and chronic sprain.
- 【Remarks】
- The therapeutic effect of acupuncture is different in cases of different causes. It is most effective for rheumatic lower back pain and chronic sprain. Lower back pain due to lumbar spondylosis and protrusion of intervertebral disc is remarkably relieved by acupuncture. For laceration of ligaments around the small joints of the lower back, the therapeutic effect is not satisfactory. The primary disease is treated when lower back pain is caused by diseases of the internal organs. Lower back pain caused by spinal tuberculosis or tumors is not the indication of acupuncture.
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