Acupuncture point LI20 located in the nasolabial sulcus at the level of insertion of the wings of the nose is known as Yingxiang. Ying translates into good and xiang into smell. Other possible translations include welcomed fragrance or pleasant perfume. The name of this point is due both to its location as their clinical indications. Lying near the nose is one of the main points used in the treatment of any problems affecting this sense organ in particular anosmia.
Acupuncture point ST29 located 1 cun superior to the upper edge of the symphysis pubis and 2 cun lateral to the SML (Sagital Midline) is known as Guilai. This term means back home. Its main clinical indications refer to the treatment of problems in the genitals and the uterus. His name provides him with the latter function, by which means, more correctly, the return home of menstruation. Read the rest of this entry »
Ending this cycle of articles (and I promise that this is indeed the last one!) On information and direction in a protocol of acupuncture would like to start over. To the first article. In it I stated that the need to write this new battery of articles was due to a statement made to the articles of Effectiveness versus Beauty on the incompetence of the acupuncture protocols with 24 or more acupuncture points.
I wrote: “When I read a protocol of acupuncture with, for example, 24 points I know in advance that the person who created it knows little of acupuncture.[I]” This shocked some of my colleagues. One of them, the same who made the comments with which I began this collection of articles stated that: “There are masters who do not pass the 6 points, there are masters who do not prescribe less than twenty or thirty, and almost seem to make drawings with the amount of needles that use.[ii] ” Read the rest of this entry »
Did you thought the article series was over? Not yet. There’s still a little step of magic to understand something for these acupuncture protocols. Let’s review them again.
1 – GB26-ST28-LV5-BL30-BL32-9SP-CV3 authored by Ganglin Yin and Liu Zhenghua
2 – GB26-GB41-SJ5-CV3-CV6-SP6 authored by Jeremy Ross
These acupuncture protocols have a different number of points and in their acupuncture points only two are identical (CV3 and GB26). All other acupuncture points are different. At first sight would be two protocols for totally different problems. At this point the reader already knows that these tradicional Chinese acupuncture protocols deal with exactly the same problem: pelvic inflammation by damp-heat. But there is another important aspect to observe on these protocols. Both are built exactly the same way. The differences between them are practically illusory. But we need to watch them only through the prism of point combination. Again I will create a framework that will facilitate this process the reader. Read the rest of this entry »
Knowing how to distinguish the main symptoms of the protocol we are in a position to study the clinical pattern and thus get to know more other symptoms or characteristics peculiar to certain symptoms.
For ease I’ll build another table where we could distinguish the acupuncture points that treat only symptoms, points to the clinical pattern/syndrome differentiation or points that deal with both.
TABLE – Consideration of acupuncture points listed for the chief complaint, to the clinical pattern symptoms and the main symptomatic acupuncture points. Read the rest of this entry »
We will continue to use examples. To make the article more interesting, let’s compare two acupuncture protocols and from them we will find the patient’s symptoms. The protocols to be analyzed are:
1 – GB26-ST28-LV5-BL30-BL32-CV3-SP9[i] made by ganglin Yin and Liu Zhenghua
2 – GB26-GB41-SJ5-CV3-CV6-SP6[ii] made by Jeremy Ross.
This loss of information is due to two fundamental aspects: first the protocol is defined by the therapeutic principles, not on the diagnosis and, secondly, because some acupuncture points can treat more than one symptom or one clinical pattern. The first we talked about extensively. The second can be understood by the following examples (we will use examples that address particular symptoms and clinical patterns).
EXAMPLE 1
Assuming I read a protocol with the acupuncture points ST25, BL25 and ST37 and I am asked what symptom they intend to treat, it is always the doubt related to the symptom. This set of acupuncture points is intended to treat the symptoms of an viscera, in this case the large intestine. Any symptom of this viscera can be treated by these points as diarrhea, constipation or pain in the lower abdomen, for example. So in this case I never know what is the symptom that led to the acupuncture protocol. I know, however, possible symptoms. I know for absolute certainty that there is some of those symptoms already mentioned. The information is dispersed but the protocol does not lose significance. Read the rest of this entry »
However in a general form that statement is correct. It is like the marquis of lapalisse, but actually all forms of medicine start their analysis by patients symptoms, defining a diagnosis and prescribe treatment. Something that is implied on the same phrase but that I will best explain here is that there are well define rules for analyzing symptoms or prescribe acupuncture treatment.
Analyzing the presence of certain symptoms and understanding the relationship formed with each other becomes possible to reach a Chinese Medicine diagnosis. There are rules to study the symptoms and their relationship to help us define the medical diagnosis. And the symptoms are classified according with another set of rules. And there are well defined rules in order to prescribe different therapies. A chinese materia medica/Chinese phytotherapy formula have drugs known as emperors, ministers, etc… that have specific functions that will give information about its usefulness. The protocol of acupuncture is done using the principles of combining points (local points, acupuncture points on the same meridian, etc…). Read the rest of this entry »
My articles on Efficacy and Beauty (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4) appear to have affected a reader from the portuguese acupunctureblog who comment it in MTCforum. Particularly the assertion that an acupuncture protocol with 24 points was an incompetent acupuncture protocol, as I think it is in most cases.
Although they have not been presented arguments to allow a more technical discussion, were made some statements that indicate a misunderstanding of the article or about acupuncture as understood in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve mentioned in another article several studies regarding the use of acupuncture in drug addiction treatment (drug addiction) and the dependence on cigarettes (drugs). My view is simple: there are no studies that show that acupuncture is really effective and the results of many clinics can only be due to false advertising and triage of patients in order to select only those who actually will stop smoking.
But this does not indicate that I do not write texts on Chinese medicine for these tipe of problems (drug addiction treatment, drug rehabilitation, drug rehab, drug treatment). In this case I will talk about some peculiarities of acupuncture treatment. My source is the excellent work of Yin and Ganglin Zhenghua Liu, Advanced Modern Chinese Acupuncture Therapy. Read the rest of this entry »
The manipulations performed on the acupuncture needle may have several purposes. One is to “Arrival of Qi” ie, get a physical sensation of electric shock, for example. There are several techniques that can be used since “pressing the path of the meridian,” “trembling” (consisting of shaking the needle) or my favorite “plucking” among other. Read the rest of this entry »
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