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Acupuncture Point Categories, Part Two

Acupuncture, which is sometimes referred to as needle therapy in Standard Chinese Mandarin is a form of alternative medicine or natural healing that involves the inserting as well as the manipulation of needles into precise acupuncture points in the body in order to bring relief from a variety of health conditions and ailments, everything from respiratory problems to headaches to chronic pain to problems with infertility. Those who study acupuncture believe that it is a technique that helps to improve both health and well-being and it is particularly effective at dealing with pain in many forms from mild to severe. Let's continue out look at the body's acupuncture points.

The five phase points connect all five elements of earth, fire, metal, water and wood to each of the five points of transporting. The jing-well points are wood points that show up on the yin channels while fire describes the ying-spring points and the shu-stream points happen to be earth. Two other points on the yin channels are jing-river points and he-sea points. The former is metal while the latter represents water. Turning the channels that relate to yang, the he-she points are earth while the jing-river points represent fire. The jing-well points correspond to the metal element while the ying-spring points are water. Finally the shu-stream points correspond to wood. All of the categories of points listed here, are then integrated into the "Five Phase" theory and from there they are used to help determine how to treat various diseases.

The xi-cleft points are the position on the channel where both the blood as well as the qi come together and once connected, make their way further into the human body. These points are particularly relevant when it comes to health situations that are acute as well as the conditions that cause a great deal of pain.

The yuan-source points are placed on the channel from a place where the yuan qi can easily be reached. The luo-connecting points are to be found on the channel where there is a diverging of the luo meridian. There are 12 meridians and each of these is in possession of a luo point. Each luo point is able to diverge from what is considered to be the main meridian. As well there are three extra luo channels and these all diverge at three separate locations, which are the Ren-15, the Du-1 and the Sp-21.

The back-shu points can be found on the paraspinal muscles that lie on both sides of the spine, across from each other. According to Chinese theory, the qi that stands for each organ of the body is delivered back and forth from the back-shu points and these can be very easily influenced by the presence of them. The front-mu points can be found in close proximity to the organ they correspond to. These points do have an effect on the organ but in no way do they affect the channel in question.

Finally, the hui-meeting points are unique in that they are theorized to be able to have a s"pecial effect" on specific bodily organs as well as tissues. The name of each point and the organ(s) they correspond to are as follows: B111 Da Zhu (bone), B1-17 Ge Shu (blood), GB-39 Xuan Zhong (marrow), Ren-17 Shang Fu (qi), Ren-12 Zhong Fu (fu organs), Lu-9 Tai Yuan (vessels), Liv-13 Zhang Men (zang organs) and Gb-34 Yang Ling Quan (sinews).