Acupuncture is one of the main branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine used for thousands of years. Its efficacy and safety has made this therapeutic method one of the most used medical techniques worldwide. Acupuncture is based on Traditional Chinese Medical ideas where health is recognized by balance in every item of life and any imbalance is a potential source of illness. This balance can be between heath and cold, Yang and Yin, Dryness and wetness, or any other pair of reciprocal items. The main purpose of any therapeutic method is to bring back the missing balance which has caused a disorder or is going to cause any problem.
In traditional Chinese medical philosophy, there are five main basics from which a disease can be analyzed. They include “Yin/Yang theory”, “Five elements theory”, “Jang/Fu organ theory”, “Qi-Essence-Blood-Fluid theory” and “Meridians and collaterals theory”. All these theories are interrelated and empower each other.
Yin/Yang theory focuses on the mutual interrelation of any pair of reciprocal items of the world; light and dark, warmth and coldness, day and night, movement and steadiness, male and female, up and down, front and back, etc. To keep the entire system working well, you need to keep every pair in balance. If any item grows more than the other, an imbalance occurs and diseases come up. On the other hand, these two sets of items are complementary and can empower each other.
Five Elements theory refers each item of the world to one of the five basic elements: Earth, Metal, Water, Wood and Fire. They also include main body solid organs (spleen, lung, kidney, liver, heart) and hallow viscera (stomach, large intestine, bladder, gall bladder and small intestine). The relatioship between five elements affects the relationship between different organs, different natures and other factors following the five elements theory.
Jang/Fu organ theory explains the mutual relationship between major solid and hallow organs of the body. It means that for each solid organ there is a functionally related hollow viscera. Spleen is connected to the stomach and such connections can be found between lung and large intestine, kidney and urinary bladder, liver and gall bladder, and heart and small intestine. Each pair plays the role of an element (looking back to the five elements theory) and the solid organ is the yin part while the hollow viscera acts as the yang part.
Qi-essence-blood-fluid explains how the material is shaped from the most spiritual and moving extreme (qi) to the most materialized floating extreme (body fluid). The movement of these items brings life to the all single organisms as well as the universe. They also provide the organs by food and other materials needed for building new structures and maintaining the existing functional units.
Meridians and collaterals theory introduces the special pathways for movement of Qi (the life energy) and other moving materials in the body. It gives us the most important information used for therapeutic planning by introducing the pathways and points where you can apply changes by inserting and stimulating needles. Twenty main meridians connects all the organs and body parts and fellow underneath skin. In places that they are closer to the surface, we can apply the treatment. These special points are named acupuncture points or acupoints. There are more than 400 standard acupoints located on the body surface and used for therapeutic purposes.
Only by putting all these theories together an acupuncturist can make a proper diagnosis based on reviewing patient’s medical history and his physical examination. Obviously, acupuncturists decide on therapeutic plans by using all these theories, too. The information provided in this page is extremely simplified to be understood by ordinary readers. The au If you want to use it anywhere for any purpose please get permission from the owner of the website using this email: shirazacupuncture@gmail.com.