Traditional Chinese medicine, including acupuncture, is practiced in every hospital in China, servicing one quarter to one third of the world population. Outside of China, every country and culture using acupuncture has adapted it to unique health needs. Thus there are many approaches that have evolved out of the original 365 ‘known’ points, and five-phase system of correspondences. The following is not an exhaustive list but intended to familiarize the reader with some of these more common treatment approaches. In addition, there are treatment techniques used in acupuncture practice that are culturally and historically related to it. These are described in the East Asian medicine section of this web site.

System of Five Phase Correspondence
This is the well known system that relates organs in coupled pairs to elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, to seasons of Spring, Summer, Late Summer, Fall and Winter, to climates of Wind, Heat, Dampness, Dryness, and Cold respectively. In addition each element has a related flavor, sound, color, grain, meat, emotion or disposition, pulse location and pattern of imbalance. Depending on the pattern of imbalance a treatment is fashioned that includes selection of points, combination of herbs, and recommendations of food, exercise, behavior and attitude change. The 365 original or common acupuncture points located on the twelve major channels throughout the body are historically connected in the Five Phase System of Correspondence. The Five-Phase System is a functioning blueprint connecting the movement of life force in the body with its environment, history, and destiny, and is probably the original ecologically holistic method. Variations in approaches often use some aspects of the system of correspondence.

Zang Fu Patterns of Disharmony
Zang Fu patterns of disharmony are recognized archetypal pathologies. The Zang Fu (meaning solid/hollow, or internal/external) are organs though not anatomical masses as one would think of Western organs. While they have location as part of their nature, the zang fu are functional activities and relationships of the body. Acupuncture points are selected based on these named patterns and are needled with the intention to harmonize, tonify, disperse, or sedate depending on the nature of the pattern. When the Spleen is deficient, with accumulation of Dampness, points would be chosen that resolve damp and tonify the Spleen. In addition, the technique of needling might augment the desired effect. Herbal medicine prescribing is often based on Zang Fu patterns of disharmony and is the main practice sanctioned by the Peoples Republic of China, referred to as Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM.

Classical Chinese Medicine
Classical Chinese medicine refers to a genre of practice that preceded the revolution in China and the state sanctioned Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Classical practice was based more on local culture and custom and varied by region. Where Classical practice might have included many techniques and approaches from acupuncture to herbs to Daoism and Qi Gong, the TCM system focused on herbal medicine with a Western scientific aspiration. The original texts translated from Chinese to English were based on the PRC TCM system. However in years since these original texts, the syncretistic practice of Classical Chinese Medicine has begun to flourish in the West. Therapeutically, choice of acupuncture points in the Classical system can range from a point prescription known to be excellent for a particular disorder, to individualization of treatment based only on palpation. Typically, some combination of methods is used to determine points to be needled, including 5 phase, zang fu, and palpatory skills combined with an evaluation involving history, signs, tongue and pulse.

Japanese Acupuncture and Hara Diagnosis
Japanese acupuncture differs from Chinese acupuncture in that it involves a more sophisticated practice of touch and palpation, along with lighter and shallower techniques of needling. In particular, Hara palpation was advanced in Japan. The Hara, or abdomen, is palpated revealing particular patterns of constriction or flaccidity. Release or balance is discoverable by palpation of points distal to the abdomen. Needling these distal points, along with local points, releases deep patterns of tension facilitating the healing of internal organ illness and disease.

Auricular Acupuncture
Auricular acupuncture is a Western development with its foundation in Chinese medicine. The ear was discovered to be a homunculus (small person), that is, points in the ear are associated with parts of the body that when charted actually looks like an inverted fetus. Needles can be placed in the ear alone to achieve a therapeutic effect anywhere in the body, or can be used in conjunction with other body acupuncture points.

Conditions affecting the body can be detected through the ear by visual or manual examination – evidence of irritation such as skin discoloration and tenderness can pinpoint the root location of a condition. Ear acupuncture is an effective and popular technique for addictive illness and withdrawal from addictive substances. There are many treatment clinics in the US that use ear acupuncture as a form of drug free withdrawal therapy.

Electro Acupuncture
Acupuncture points have demonstrated increased electrical conductivity and decreased electrical resistance. Needling, or even touching known points, produces a small electrical effect known as piezo, within the body’s connective tissue. Some practitioners seek to augment the strength of needling by applying a weak current of electricity to the needles. The strength of the electric current varies depending on the desired result of the procedure. This method is used, along with moderate doses of pain medication, as a form of anesthesia for surgery.

Scalp Acupuncture
Scalp acupuncture was developed in modern China. Like auricular acupuncture, scalp acupuncture is a micro system that uses a part of the body and recognizes in it a map of the whole. In scalp acupuncture needles are inserted just under and along the surface of the scalp over areas of the brain that are known to regulate aspects of the body’s function. This system can be used when areas of the body cannot be accessed directly, or when treating disorders involving the brain or central nervous system, as in forms of palsy and paralysis.

Korean Hand Acupuncture
Acupuncture practice in Korea has been influenced by its unique history and culture. Korean hand acupuncture is one technique that has become well known in the West. The hand, like the scalp and ear, represents a condensed version of the body. The areas on the hand that correspond to a disturbed part of the body will be exquisitely tender, or be a different color than the surrounding hand tissue. Very small needles are inserted directly into these areas and retained from 10 minutes to hours, depending on the condition and the patient. These areas also respond to touch and other forms of stimulation, like body acupuncture points.

American Acupuncture
Acupuncture practice in the West, particularly in the US, resembles the syncretism of early Classical Chinese practice. While US schools have been heavily influenced by the Peoples Republic sanctioned TCM, there has been in the last 10 years access to acupuncture methods as taught and practiced in other countries. US practitioners, more than any others in history, have the opportunity to choose and blend styles of practice. This has resulted in more emphasis on palpation and individualization of treatments, strengthening acupuncture as a practice distinct from herbal medicine.

There are also US schools that have emphasized and developed diagnostic approaches that have historical roots in Chinese medicine. Constitutional typing and treatment according to the five elements is one example. Widespread abuse of alcohol and drugs is a particular health problem in the US that has responded to the use of acupuncture as a form of detox. Particularly ear acupuncture is found to be not only effective, but cost efficient, and easy to deliver.

Content last modified on Mar 14, 2003