Other Acupuncture Resources 

Decoding an Ancient Therapy
High-Tech Tools Show How Acupuncture Works in Treating Arthritis, Back Pain, Other Ills

Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.

As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.
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National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine

Any decision you make about your health care is important--including deciding whether to use acupuncture. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has developed this fact sheet to provide you with information on acupuncture. It includes frequently asked questions, issues to consider, and a list of sources for further information. Terms that are underlined are defined at the end of this fact sheet.
Key Points
Acupuncture originated in China more than 2,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest and most commonly used medical procedures in the world.

It is important to inform all of your health care providers about any treatment that you are using or considering, including acupuncture. Ask about the treatment procedures that will be used and their likelihood of success for your condition or disease.

Be an informed consumer and find out what scientific studies have been done on the effectiveness of acupuncture for your health condition.

If you decide to use acupuncture, choose the practitioner with care. Also check with your insurer to see if the services will be covered.
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What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Originating in China more than 2,000 years ago, acupuncture began to become better known in the United States in 1971, when New York Times reporter James Reston wrote about how doctors in China used needles to ease his pain after surgery.

The term acupuncture describes a family of procedures involving stimulation of anatomical points on the body by a variety of techniques. American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation.

By Jacob Godwin, L.Ac., M.A.O.M.

“Everything we know is made of energy, in the form of matter or radiation. One of the most striking attributes of energy is its strict conservation: the creation or destruction of energy has never been observed. Thus, energy has the attributes needed in a candidate fundamental building block of the Universe.”1
—David W. Talmage and Richard J. Sanderson

"Every birth is a condensation, every death a dispersal. Birth is not a gain, death not a loss…when condensed, Qi becomes a living being, when dispersed, it is the substratum of mutations."2
—Zhang Zai

"Life is not creation from nothing, and death is not complete dispersion and destruction. Despite the condensation and dispersion of Qi] its original substance can neither be added nor be lessened."3
—Wang Fu Zhi

"…the idea that the world and its phenomena are perturbations that emerge out of and fold back into a vital energizing field called Qi was already widely held in the late fourth and early third centuries BCE attested to in the Zhuangzi, the Daodejing, and the Mencius as well as other early texts…Qi has to be distinguished from either 'animating vapors' or 'basic matter' because it cannot be resolved into any kind of spiritual-material dichotomy. Qi is both the animating energy and that which is animated. There are no 'things' to be animated; there is only the vital energizing field and its focal manifestations. The energy of transformation resides within the world itself, and it is expressed in what Zhuangzi calls the perpetual 'transforming of things and events'. It is this understanding of a focus-field process of cosmic change that is implicitly assumed in the Daodejing and other texts of this period as a kind of common sense."4
—Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall

What is the difference between the scientific postulate above and our own postulations on Qi found in our fundamental theory textbook, or those found in Daoism, the founding philosophy of Oriental medicine? The word Qi is simply and consistently a term we use to remain in deference to the simple truth stated above that everything is one continuous field of energy. Science knows this as do the mystics. The two are saying the same things about the same world. Our predecessors in the healing arts weren’t delusional. People lived and died by the healers’ abilities. Scientists certainly aren’t delusional. We’ve built a civilization like none seen on this planet before (that we know of).

I appreciate the reaction of those in our field calling for sensible, rational discourse when it comes to our philosophies and theories. However, we must not make the mistake of assuming that our theories are “behind” or “quaint” in any way. The convergence demonstrated above should confirm for any doubter that our theoretical construct of Qi and Yin-Yang are at least as advanced as the most recent scientific findings, if not more so given our three millennia head start.

The mistranslation of Qi is not as deleterious to the efforts of those promoting reason and demonstrability in our field as is the misunderstanding of the word energy. Qi is no-doubt energy. Qi is the fundamental continuum along which every phenomenon occurs. All phenomena exist and are defined by virtue of the contrast of opposing natures inherent to each. The way we describe such opposition is Yin-Yang. The Qi construct, including Yin-Yang, is as complete as it is profound. It is as cutting edge as it is ancient. The term energy cannot be considered limiting if it is the “fundamental building block of the universe”, can it? There is nothing wrong with translating Qi as energy as long as you know what energy really is.

1.“ENERGY IS EVERYTHING” David W. Talmage and Richard J. Sanderson, Webb Waring Institute at the, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

2.  The Foundations of Chinese Medicine 2nd edition—Giovanni Maciocia

3.   The Foundations of Chinese Medicine 2nd edition—Giovanni Maciocia

4.   Dao De Jing, A Philosophical Translation, Making This Life Significant—Roger T. Ames and David L. Hall

from Wikipedia - About Acupuncture

Traditional Theory
Chinese medicine is based on a different paradigm from scientific biomedicine. Its theory holds the following explanation of acupuncture:

Acupuncture treats the human body as a whole that involves several "systems of function" that are in some cases loosely associated with (but not identified on a one-to-one basis with) physical organs. Some systems of function, such as the "triple heater" (San Jiao, also called the "triple burner") have no corresponding physical organ, rather, represents the various jiaos or levels of the body (upper, middle and lower). Disease is understood as a loss of balance between the yin and yang energies homeostasis among the several systems of function, and treatment of disease is attempted by modifying the activity of one or more systems of function through the activity of needles, pressure, heat, etc. on sensitive parts of the body of small volume traditionally called "acupuncture points" in English, or "xue" (穴, cavities) in Chinese. This is referred to as treating "patterns of disharmony".

Treatment of acupuncture points may be performed along the twelve main or eight extra meridians, located throughout the body, or on tender points, called "ashi" (signifying "that's it", "ouch", or "oh yes"). Of the eight extra meridians, only two have acupuncture points of their own. The other six meridians are "activated" by using a master and couple point technique which involves needling the acupuncture points located on the twelve main meridians that correspond to the particular extra meridian. Ten of the main meridians are named after organs of the body (Heart, Liver, etc.), and the other two are named after so called body functions (Heart Protector or Pericardium, and San Jiao). The meridians are capitalized to avoid confusion with a physical organ (for example, we write the "Heart meridian" as opposed to the "heart meridian"). The two most important of the eight "extra" meridians are situated on the midline of the anterior and posterior aspects of the trunk and head. The twelve primary meridians run vertically, bilaterally, and symmetrically and every channel corresponds to and connects internally with one of the twelve Zang Fu ("organs"). This means that there are six yin and six yang channels. There are three yin and three yang channels on each arm, and three yin and three yang on each leg.

The three yin channels of the hand (Lung, Pericardium, and Heart) begin on the chest and travel along the inner surface (mostly the anterior portion) of the arm to the hand.

The three yang channels of the hand (Large intestine, San Jiao, and Small intestine) begin on the hand and travel along the outer surface (mostly the posterior portion) of the arm to the head.

The three yang channels of the foot (Stomach, Gallbladder, and Bladder) begin on the face, in the region of the eye, and travel down the body and along the outer surface (mostly the anterior and lateral portion) of the leg to the foot.

The three yin channels of the foot (Spleen, Liver, and Kidney) begin on the foot and travel along the inner surface (mostly posterior and medial portion) of the leg to the chest or flank.

The movement of qi through each of the twelve channels is comprised of an internal and an external pathway. The external pathway is what is normally shown on an acupuncture chart and it is relatively superficial. All the acupuncture points of a channel lie on its external pathway. The internal pathways are the deep course of the channel where it enters the body cavities and related Zang-Fu organs. The superficial pathways of the twelve channels describe three complete circuits of the body.

The distribution of qi through the meridians is said to be as follows (the based on the demarcations in TCM's Chinese Clock): Lung channel of hand taiyin to Large Intestine channel of hand yangming to Stomach channel of foot yangming to Spleen channel of foot taiyin to Heart channel of hand shaoyin to Small Intestine channel of hand taiyang to Bladder channel of foot taiyang to Kidney channel of foot shaoyin to Pericardium channel of hand jueyin to San Jiao channel of hand shaoyang to Gallbladder channel of foot shaoyang to Liver channel of foot jueyin then back to the Lung channel of hand taiyin.

Chinese medical theory holds that acupuncture works by normalizing the free flow of qi (a difficult-to-translate concept that pervades Chinese philosophy and is commonly translated as "vital energy") throughout the body. Pain or illnesses are treated by attempting to remedy local or systemic accumulations or deficiencies of qi. Pain is considered to indicate blockage or stagnation of the flow of qi, and an axiom of the medical literature of acupuncture is "no pain, no blockage; no blockage, no pain".

Many patients claim to experience the sensations of stimulus known in Chinese as "deqi" (得氣, "obtaining the qi" or "arrival of the qi"). This kind of sensation was historically considered to be evidence of effectively locating the desired point. There are some electronic devices now available which will make a noise when what they have been programmed to describe as the "correct" acupuncture point is pressed.

The acupuncturist decides which points to treat by observing and questioning the patient in order to make a diagnosis according to the tradition which he or she utilizes. In TCM, there are four diagnostic methods: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiring, and palpation (Cheng, 1987, ch. 12). Inspection focuses on the face and particularly on the tongue, including analysis of the tongue size, shape, tension, color and coating, and the absence or presence of teeth marks around the edge. Auscultation and olfaction refer, respectively, to listening for particular sounds (such as wheezing) and attending to unusual body odor. Inquiring focuses on the "seven inquiries", which are: chills and fever; perspiration; appetite, thirst and taste; defecation and urination; pain; sleep; and menses and leukorrhea. Palpation includes feeling the body for tender "ashi" points, and palpation of the left and right radial pulses at two levels of pressure (superficial and deep) and three positions (immediately proximal to the wrist crease, and one and two fingers' breadth proximally, usually palpated with the index, middle and ring fingers). Other forms of acupuncture employ additional diagnosic techniques. In many forms of classical Chinese acupuncture, as well as Japanese acupuncture, palpation of the muscles and the hara (abdomen) are central to diagnosis.

There are also theories being developed to explain effects observed for acupuncture within the orthodox Western medical paradigm.

Sweet Herbs have 3 main functions; nourishing deficiency, harmonizing other herbs or reduce toxicity, relieve pain and slow the progression of acute diseases.

Sour Herbs also have 3 functions; constrict, obstruct and solidify. These herbs are good to stop perspiration, stop diarrhea, stop seminal emission and stop leucorrhea.

Salty herbs soften hardness, lubricate intestines and drain downward. These herbs are used to treat hard stool with constipation or hard swellings as in diseases like goitre.

Bitter herbs induce bowel movements, reduce fevers and hot sensations, re direct rebellious Qi, dry dampness and clear heat. They can also nourish the kidneys and are used to treat damp diseases.

After a herb is absorbed by a patient it can move in 4 different directions; upward towards the head, downward towards the lower extremities, inward toward the zang-fu organs or outward towards the superficial regions of the body.
Upward movement herbs are used for falling symptoms like prolapsed organs.
Downward moving herbs are used to push down up surging symptoms like coughing and vomiting.
Outward moving herbs are used to induce perspiration and treat superficial symptoms that are moving towards the interior of the body.
Inward movement of herbs induce bowel movements and promote digestion.
Each herb will have a corresponding meridian or meridians to which it will correspond to. For example; Jie Geng corresponds to the lungs and can be used for asthma or cough. Rib pain and sore eyes relate to the liver so as Gou Teng has an affinity for the liver meridian it can be used for the treatment of liver diseases.