Meridians and Acupuncture

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Anyone who wishes to access this paper will have to to EPCEL, read

the paper in the Files area then . Go to the following URL to

online and then go in to Files / Acupuncture for the paper.

 

.group/epcel/

 

Very briefly the paper seeks to link embryology with the functioning of

meridians. It is asserted that meridians are strips of high density

gap-junctions ( areas of high electrical conductivity surrounded by areas of

lesser conductivity). The original purpose of the gap-junction 'embryonic

sheath' was to orchestrate the correct timing and growth of limb and organ

buds via 'electrical potential variations leading to " singularities " ' on

the skin surface which emerged as a result of previous growth history and

present gap junction density. Meridians (and collaterals) thus serve as a

form of stimulus and communication between embryonic body parts that

predates the nervous system or any other form of organic communication in

the developing organism.

 

In the fully developed organism meridians are folded over and enter / leave

the surface of the body connecting one organ to another. [ This is a little

analogous to the the seams & folds you see on geological maps that link one

mining village with another. The mining villages are acupoints and the

seams are meridians. ]

 

John said : " .. My acupuncturist is one of those who believes " that the

meridian system as described in the classic acupuncture literature does not

exist and that all the effects of acupuncture are mediated through the

nervous system. " Felix Mann also holds this belief.

http://www.felixmann.co.uk/index.shtml "

 

It is indeed moot. I had the fortune to be treated last Autumn by a Chines

doc visiting the UK. He claimed to be an osteopathic surgeon and treated my

frozen shoulder with a special needle having a chisel shaped end. It worked

and my shoulder felt much better afterwards. When I asked him what acupoints

he was using he said that he didn't use any, he just inserted the needles

where I described the pain to be at its worst. On the other hand I have been

treated for the same problem by another TCM doc who insistes the frozen

shoulder and tinnitus I suffer share an acupuncture meridian for effective

treatment. His acupuncture works too !

 

My readings of Felix Mann suggest a supportive place for the etiology of the

meridians and the 'connectedness ' of zang-fu organs in the Five Phase

System. Mann [ Acupuncture 1964 ISBN 0 433 20303 X ] has observed in the

embryo for example that " .. the large intestine and lungs are both derived

from endoterm: the large intestine is formed then the caudal part of the

primitive gut; the lung bed which develops into the bronchial system is a

ventral evagination of the primitive foregut.. " Quite a lot of this

description on Manns text, but to get back to this recent publication here

is Johns comment which may wet your appetite for a little more of the paper

found in the EPCEL Files area.

 

Sam.

 

John comments:-

 

 

 

 

A very interesting paper Sammy.

 

I had acupuncture administered for Zoladex induced hot flushes by a

consultant anaesthetist at a Bc pain clinic at the Marsden a couple of years

ago. Subjectively I would estimate the reduction in severity and frequency

of hot flushes to have been at least 70%. Not a bad result for someone who

had until then thought the whole thing to be a load of cobblers.

 

The paper mentions " that most acupuncture points correspond to the high

electric conductance points on the body surface " . Having played with my

ohm-meter using the points where my needles were placed, I can confirm that

probing those points results in a lower resistance than probing adjacent to

the points.

 

My acupuncturist is one of those who believes " that the meridian system as

described in the classic acupuncture literature does not exist and that all

the effects of acupuncture are mediated through the nervous system. " Felix

Mann also holds this belief. http://www.felixmann.co.uk/index.shtml

 

Mann's technique is (was) unusual. I have a friend who suffered from

migraines. His father was a friend of Mann, so if he had a migraine and

found himself close enough to Mann's office he would pop in for what was a

very quick session. Mann would wield a rather long needle, insert it,

immediately withdraw it, and enquire if the headache had gone. On most

occasions it had. Now and again the treatment didn't work, and Mann's

response was that he could do no more, and advised my friend to take a

couple of aspirin.

 

I can vouch for this too. " A therapeutic effect of acupuncture can be

achieved by a variety of stimuli [10, 64], including electricity, needling,

temperature variation, laser [65], and pressure. " I was given needles for

self-use at just one site, but found that I could get relief from some hot

flushes by massaging that point firmly with a finger.

 

These excerpts are worth following up. I've started, but it is time

consuming especially as it is so easy to get side tracked. " Many neural,

circulatory, and immune processes are regulated through growth control

mechanisms such as hypertrophy, hyperplasia, atrophy, apoptosis with shared

messenger molecules and common signal transduction pathways involving growth

control genes such as proto-oncogenes [76-80]. Acupuncture also induces the

expression of protooncogene c-fos [81, 82] "

 

" The gap junction genes can also behave as classical tumor suppressor genes

in both culture and animal tests in restoring growth regulatory properties

to metastatic cancer cells. " PMID 8809403 throws some more light on this.

 

" The activation of organizing centers is likely to be involved in the

restoration of proper form and function in wound healing and stress

response. Acupuncture can speed up the wound healing process " My

acupuncturist would remove the words 'likely to be' from the first sentence

immediately above. She carries needles in her handbag. If she cuts herself,

is burnt, or bangs (bruises) herself, she pops a needle into the site of the

trauma. Says it reduces (removes) pain and discomfort, and promotes rapid

healing.

 

To comment seriously on the morphogenetic singularity theory would take a

great deal of reading. I've been happily sidetracked by some of the

references, and further sidetracked by other work of some of the reference

authors.

 

John.