Combined with my experience in clinical acupuncture for more than 20 years in a general (tertiary) hospital, I interpret the relationship between meridians and nerves from the perspective of clinical acupuncture treatment, and propose that the principle of acupuncture treatment should be studied from the level of bioelectrical activity of acupuncture on internal organs and tissues, in order to facilitate better mutual integration and combination of current acupuncture treatment mechanisms and principles with modern medicine. The results will be “mutually enlightening and complementary” to jointly promote the study of meridian substance and the development of modern neurology and physiology.
In this paper, I have been practicing acupuncture and moxibustion for more than 20 years in a general hospital (purely Western medicine), and I feel the rapid development of modern medicine. Although acupuncture has developed rapidly in the past few decades since the founding of the PRC, and has made world-renowned achievements, it has lagged behind in development compared to modern medicine. This lag is by no means our acupuncture treatment (operation) means backward; but the interpretation of acupuncture treatment mechanism and principle is not quite in line with the standards of modern science.
The formation of Chinese medicine meridian theory is the ancient people in the practice of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of disease, plainly described a series of present (signs) of the summary, gradually formed the theoretical system. The reason why it has not been replaced by other theories is probably related to the fact that the meridian theory of Chinese medicine is ahead of the whole concept of life and the limitations of modern medical research on the nervous system, which has only 100 years of development history.
As the doctrine of meridians that guides clinical acupuncture, the state has invested a lot in meridian research over the years, although the objective existence of the phenomenon of meridians following the meridians and the objective laws of transmission, as well as various insights into meridians, have been enriched and developed. However, this is only a repetition of the classical meridian descriptions, and no specific tissues independent of nerves and blood vessels have been discovered. There has been no major breakthrough or substantial progress in the study of the substance of meridians, and using them to guide modern clinical acupuncture appears to be very difficult.
In the modern clinical treatment of acupuncture, although electro-acupuncture has been widely used, there is no ready interpretation of traditional Chinese medicine and meridian theory. The direct cause of this result is that the meridian theory has reached an ultimate interpretation after millennia of development, and its current reality is manifested in the absolute solidity of the meridian theory, which makes it difficult for any new theory to intervene. Once it faces the encroachment of other theories, it reflects either rejection or inability to cover, which eventually affects the renewal and development of the whole theoretical system.
At present, there is no significant breakthrough and substantial progress in the substance of meridians, and it should be relevant to accommodate the current basic principles of modern medicine since it is a doctrine.
Due to the working environment, the author had to make use of the existing literature reports on acupuncture clinical and meridian research to explain meridians and acupuncture treatment principles to them (patients, western medical colleagues, and acupuncture teaching) first in western and then in Chinese, from easy to difficult, step by step, and gradually it was generally welcomed and accepted. This is summarized as follows.
The patients who are currently actively choosing acupuncture treatment in the acupuncture clinic are the most common motor system pain of various joints and muscle soft tissues. The clinical focus is on the selection of acupuncture treatment methods, Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment of pain “cold is warm (stay) of; Wan Chen is removed”, the flexible application of a variety of acupuncture treatment means, emphasizing the direct effect of changing the local pain, more than received good clinical results.
Most of the acupuncture treatment is localized, often “abandoning the meridian and abandoning the acupuncture points”, with the A-Yi point as the main point. The application of meridian theory in the treatment of such diseases is not prominent. The study of meridians from these diseases is undoubtedly a ‘peek into the tube’.
For pains involving peripheral nerve irritation, even though the meridian circulation theory can be used to explain the disease, the treatment is still mostly based on acupuncture points with nerve trunks distributed under the acupoints. For example, cervical spondylosis (nerve root type) causes numbness in the arms and hands, which is more effectively treated with cervical jiaoji points [1]. In addition, as in trigeminal neuralgia, most of the points are taken locally or adjacent to the affected trigeminal nerve according to its anatomic distribution [2]; the same analogy is true for sciatica (P, N, P).
The Ling Shu: “The twelve meridians belong to the internal organs and are externally connected to the limbs and joints.” Therefore, acupuncture treatment for diseases of the five viscera and six internal organs can best reflect the meridian theory.
In the clinical treatment of acupuncture, we understand ‘meridian’ as nerves; ‘luo’ as blood (veins) vessels, which is more similar to meridian function if we focus on the functional oneness of nerves and blood vessels, i.e., inseparability. In fact, both central and peripheral nerve conduction is an electrical (N synapse) – chemical (N junction) – electrical process, and its nerve junction chemical process is closely related to the blood (vascular) vessels and is inseparable. Modern medical research on the vasoregulatory center of the lateral horn of the spinal cord shows that blockage of its conduction pathway can lead to a decrease in blood supply and function of visceral tissues.
It can be said that the nerves and their conduction mechanisms represent the majority of the meridians proper.
Of the twelve meridians, the meridian and acupuncture point that is especially most ‘hyper-aware’, the foot solar bladder meridian (point), has a name and distribution that coincides with the internal organs innervated by the vegetative nerves of the spinal cord nerve segments! The accuracy of the internal organs described by the bladder meridian (acupuncture points) is high, and although the elaboration is not as precise as modern biology, its use in explaining the principles of acupuncture in the treatment of internal diseases makes it easy to understand from the aspect of modern medicine.
The lung point of the bladder meridian is located 1.5 inches below the T3 spinous process. Modern meridian research has clarified the existence of spinal ganglion cell axonal connections between the lung points and the lungs, and although the lung points are not as precisely elaborated as modern biology, they were quite and absolutely remarkable in terms of the level of science and understanding of man himself at that time.
Modern neuroanatomy, physiology, pathology …… etc. are less than a hundred years old! And the thousands of years old TCM meridian theory that we are currently applying can still clinically explain the principle of acupuncture for internal diseases and enable one to explain its correctness and validity from the modern medical aspect. We selected the bladder meridian with lung points as the main point, and used vitamin B acupuncture point injection to cure a case of severe respiratory muscle paralysis caused by silver-ringed snake poisoning.
We also treated patients with subacute allergic myelitis and spinal cord cavitation (one case each) with longer-term bladder meridian acupoint injections, which effectively controlled the progression and deterioration of the disease without any emergence of side effects. These suggest that acupuncture point injections of the bladder meridian can not only treat the corresponding visceral disorders, but also promote the restoration of the function of the affected spinal cord. The advancement of the foot solar bladder meridian (acupuncture points) is also reflected in the fact that there are no named acupoints under the T8 spinous process, which may be related to the fact that there is no treatise on the human pancreas (organs) in Chinese medicine so far.
In the acupuncture clinic, the most difficult mutual understanding of Chinese and Western medicine are “qi” and “electricity”. As the ancient saying goes, “Qi and blood are different names for the same thing”. If “qi” is understood as “the level of bioelectrical activity based on the internal organs”, it is easy to understand the meridian theory. It is not difficult to understand the meridian theory has “meridian qi”, but not “luo qi”. Moreover, the principle of electroacupuncture treatment is integrated in the meridian system we will not be difficult to understand.
Modern medicine on the human body’s electrical (EKG, EEG) activity research although applied for many years, but can be said to be relatively shallow, such as EKG shows the electrocardiogram low voltage, EEG shows the brain alpha wave low amplitude, in the clinical think “no” too much significance; then for other organs of the electrical activity research is little and little, more regrettable is to the substantial The study of the electrical activity of organs such as lungs, liver and pancreas is almost zero, while some studies have proved that the process of ovulation in women is also accompanied by electrical activity.
It is certain that the study of the relationship between the electrical activity and the function of these organs is of practical significance, not for the lack of effective methods and instruments, but for the lack of understanding that “electrical activity is also an important factor influencing the functional activity of the organs”. The “qi” of the internal organs and the “electrical” activity of the organs will be the common “bridging” language point between Chinese and Western medicine. Analysis of modern medicine on the human organ electrical activity research progress is not much reason, may be and modern medicine lack of therapeutic intervention means, and this is our acupuncture (electro-acupuncture treatment) strengths.
Anhui carried out research on gastrointestinal electricity for many years, gastric dynamics research for acupuncture clinical research has achieved greater results. The study of intestinal electrogram shows that patients with diarrhea “left lower abdominal intestinal electrical activity is extremely active”; patients with constipation “right lower abdominal intestinal electrical activity is extremely active”. These results have enlightening implications and more accurate scientific tips for our clinical guidance on acupuncture treatment for diarrhea or constipation, both in terms of acupuncture point selection and operation selection and implementation of treatment methods.
Such research on the level of bioelectrical activity of the internal organs and tissues, once there is progress, will not only interpret the original theory of acupuncture treatment, but also reveal the role of the human body, especially the electrical activity of the internal organs in the overall physiological function, which will greatly improve our understanding of the human body’s own physiological function.
The study of the therapeutic principles of acupuncture can start from the effect of acupuncture on the electrical activity of the body. In the electromyography (MEG) examination, there are “insertion potential, action potential, and resting potential”, among which the “insertion potential” is directly related to the acupuncture operation, then it is easy to understand that acupuncture tonic treatment is through the change of potential conduction along the nerve to the Then, it is easy to understand that acupuncture treatment is to restore the function of the organ that has been altered by the lesion through the electrical activity of the organ by the integration of the spinal cord.
The most important feature of acupuncture treatment is the two-way regulation of the functions of the internal organs of the body, while the effect of drugs on the nerves can be said to be “overkill”, which is fundamentally different from it. From this perspective, it can be understood that the gastrointestinal hyperfunction (intestinal spasm) / (intestinal paralysis) caused by a variety of pathogenic factors, acupuncture and moxibustion of the foot three li point after treatment of intestinal peristalsis are normalized, not like the drug produced (intestinal spasm) P (intestinal paralysis), there is no overkill.
Another example is the difference between the effect of acupuncture (ovarian maintenance) on female estrogen (E) and drug treatment. However, the effect of acupuncture on the nerves is to promote its tendency to restore the normal physiological level on, the impact is not as strong as drugs, therefore, in clinical treatment should not exaggerate the effect.
”For deficiency, tonic; for reality, diarrhea.” At present, there is no substantial standard for the quantification of clinical tonic and diarrheal techniques, mostly based on the feelings of the patient receiving acupuncture treatment. The gentle operation with little adverse stimulation is called “tonic method”; the heavy one with great stimulation is called “diarrhea method”. Even if the same patient is related to his functional state and the doctor’s use of acupuncture tools and techniques, these can be used similar to the principle of electromyography, according to the changes in potential generated by the acupuncture operation to develop quantitative criteria for tonic and diarrhea.
At present, modern medicine is not enough research on the level of bioelectric activity of the vegetative nerves, especially the viscera, in the occurrence and development of many diseases; the application of modern medicine can not fully explain the principle of acupuncture treatment and meridian phenomenon, these are the direction we need to focus on research. Therefore, meridian research should be based on the known part of modern physiology, and analyze and study the phenomena of acupuncture meridians that are not yet covered by it, and the interactive research with modern neurology and physiology is a good entry point. It can be said that meridian theory is a resource for modern neurological research.
Of course, the principles of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment should not simply add or subtract from the principles of modern medicine, let alone simply compare high and low; instead, we should find the right position in “complementing each other”, find a breakthrough in “inspiring each other”, and improve and develop in playing the characteristics and advantages. This is the requirement of the times for acupuncture, and is one of the important conditions for acupuncture to better meet the needs of society. Things in this world are constantly evolving and improving, and so is the study of acupuncture and moxibustion, or meridians.
The above “hypothesis” about the relationship between meridians and nerves, even if it proves to be wrong in the future, does not matter, it is better than I have been engaged in clinical work of acupuncture for more than 20 years, but “do nothing” about the “essence of meridians”. This is better than not doing anything about the “meridian essence” after more than 20 years of clinical work, which is also my original intention and purpose of writing this article.