Acupuncture Body Points - An Explanation

This article provides a brief explanation of acupuncture body points.

Acupoints or trigger points employed in effective treatment might not always be located at the same area of the body as the symptom. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) works on selecting acupoints based on their effectiveness on the Meridian System in providing relief from symptoms and balancing the yin, yang, and qi.

The main twelve meridians in the human body are along the arms and legs. The twelve meridians are as follows: lungs, pericardium, heart, stomach, large Intestine, spleen, small intestine, urinary bladder, gall bladder, liver, kidneys, and triple warmer. Most of these meridians are representative of their physiological function and not their anatomical structure and this is the reason some meridians have no corresponding anatomical structure.

Meridians are further classified into yin and yang groups.

Acupuncure body points, or human body trigger points, are located by employing a measuring system called cun, which is regulated according to its distance from different key palpable anatomical body points.

The World Health Organization has recognized close to 400 basic acupoints based on the meridians in the human body. While some acupuncture body points are hardly used, some are considered extremely significant therapeutically and are employed often to treat a wide number of ailments.

Acupuncture body points or acupoints are generally located by palpation and on confirmation of tenderness in these areas. Another way of locating acupoints is by examining the warmth, or temperature of the skin in this area, and also by the texture of skin in these areas.

These acupuncture body points or acupoints are known by their conventional names, or by the name of the meridian along which they are located, followed by a numerical value to represent the order on which the point is located on that particular meridian. An acupoint on the hand could be called Hegu, and represented as LI 4, which translates to fourth point on the large intestine meridian. Here LI represents Large Intestine.

The main acupuncture body points or point system associated with different physiological body functions based on organ systems contained in the TCM structure can be described as follows:

Five Transporting System – explaining acupuncture body points

In this point system, the flow of energy or vital force referred to as qi flows through various channels like water in the river. According to this system, trigger points are located on the path of the energy flow. Here qi is explained as bubbling from spring, which slowly increases in depth and breadth just like a river that arises from a point and flows down the mountain. The five transporting systems are as stated below:

Jing-well Point System:
This system describes the energy points as Jing-well points to be located at the point where the energy or qi arises or bubbles up. Jing-well points are mostly the primary or beginning points on the yang poles or they could be the final or end points of the yin poles, with a few exceptions, all these points are located at the tips of one’s extremities like the tips of fingers and toes. Nan Jing and Nei Jing explained that the jing-well points are responsible for the fullness below the heart or in the epigastric and hypochondrium areas and are concerned with diseases of the yang organs.

Ying-spring Point System:
These acupuncture body points are described as points where the qi “slides” or “glides” down the route / channel. The ying-spring points are responsible for maintaining the heat in the body and alternations in complexion.

Shu-stream Point System:
These acupuncture body points are described as points where the qi points “surge” or “pour” down the route / channel. These shu-stream points represent the weight in the body and are responsible for aches and pains in the joints and other related disease conditions.

Jing-river Point System:
The points in this system are located where the qi “flows” or “moves” down the channel or route. The jing-river points are representative of cough and dyspnea, fever and shivers, marked by change in voice, and other conditions of the tendons, ligaments, muscles, and bones.

He-sea Point System:
Here the points are located where the energy or qi gathers and starts going deeper into the human body. The he-sea points are representative of energy flow in the opposite direction and conditions like diarrhea and other ailments resulting from irregular or erratic diet and drinking habits.

Five Phase Point System

This system associates each of the five transporting systems with one of the five elements of nature, namely wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.