Research on standard locations of acupuncture points in the brachial region / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

In order to determine the standard locations of acupuncture points in the brachial region I studied the actual descriptions of point locations as recorded in ancient texts. In the REISU the length from the shoulder to the elbow is indicated as 1 SHAKU, 7 SUN, however there are two theories about the interpretation of shoulder, the GV-14 DAITSUI theory and the shoulder tip theory. Examining the point further we find that distribution of acupuncture points on the Large Intestine Meridian from LI-15 to LI-11 covers 10 SUN. In this case based on the description depicting the position of the arms as horizontal and turned outwards, actual measurement of each location on the 120 arms of 60 subjects proved that when the “shoulder” was interpreted as GV-14, the upper arm measurement was 10 SUN. (The measurement from GV-14 to LI-15 is 7 SUN thus accounting for the 1 SHAKU 7 SUN.)<br>Using this 10 SUN as the criterion for the upper arm and determing the proportional distribution of acupuncture points between the shoulder and the elbow based on the lengths indicated in ancient texts 9 points are defined LI-13 and LI-14 on the Large Intestine Meridian, TE-11, TE-12 and TE-13 on the Triple Energizer Meridian, L-3 and L-4 on the Lung Meridian, P-2 on the Pericardium Meridian, and H-2 on the Heart Meridian. There were 12 points for which the locations could be determined anatomically LI-11, LI-12, LI-15 on the Large Intestine Meridian, TE-10 and TE-14 on the Triple Energizer Meridian, SI-8, SI-9, SI-12 on the Small Intestine Meridian, L-5 on the Lung Meridian, P-3 on the Pericardium Meridian and H-1, H-3 on the Heart Meridian.