The distribution of Qi through the pathways is said to be as follows (the based on the demarcations in TCM's Chinese Clock): Lung channel of hand taiyin to Large Intestine channel of hand yangming to Stomach channel of foot yangming to Spleen channel of foot taiyin to Heart channel of hand shaoyin to Small Intestine channel of hand taiyang to Bladder channel of foot taiyang to Kidney channel of foot shaoyin to Pericardium channel of hand jueyin to San Jiao channel of hand shaoyang to Gallbladder channel of foot shaoyang to Liver channel of foot jueyin then back to t he Lung channel of hand taiyin. According to the "Chinese clock", each channel occupies two hours, beginning with the Lung, 3AM-5AM, and coming full circle with the Liver 1AM-3AM.
Traditional diagnosis:-
The acupuncturist decides which points
to treat by observing and questioning the patient in order
to make a diagnosis according to the tradition which he or she utilizes. In
TCM, there are four diagnostic methods: * Inspection
* Auscultation and olfaction
* Inquiring
* Palpation
Inspection focuses on the face
and particularly on the tongue, including
analysis of the tongue size, shape, tension, color and coating, and
the absence or presence of teeth marks
around the edge. Auscultation and olfaction refer,
respectively, to listening for particular sounds (such as wheezing)
and attending to body odor.
Inquiring focuses on the "seven inquiries", which are: chills
and fever; perspiration; appetite, thirst and
taste; defecation and urination; pain; sleep; and menses and leukorrhea. Palpation
includes feeling the body for tender "ashi" points,
and palpation of the left and right radial pulses at two levels of pressure
(superficial and deep) and three positions Cun, Guan, Chi(immediately
proximal to the wrist crease, and one and
two fingers' breadth proximally, usually palpated with the index,
middle and ring fingers).
Other forms of acupuncture employ additional
diagnosic techniques. In many forms of
classical Chinese acupuncture, as well as Japanese
acupuncture, palpation of the muscles and the hara (abdomen) are central
to diagnosis.
TCM perspective on treatment of disease:-
Although TCM is based
on the treatment of "patterns of disharmony"
rather than biomedical diagnoses, practitioners familiar
with both systems have commented on relationships
between the two. A given TCM pattern of disharmony may be reflected
in a certain range of biomedical diagnoses:
thus, the pattern called Deficiency of Spleen Qi could manifest
as chronic fatigue, diarrhea or uterine prolapse. Likewise, a population of
patients with a given biomedical
diagnosis may have varying TCM patterns.
These observations are encapsulated in the TCM aphorism
"One disease, many patterns; one
pattern, many diseases". (Kaptchuk, 1982).
Classically, in clinical practice, acupuncture treatment
is typically highly-individualized and based on philosophical constructs,
and subjective and intuitive impressions" and not on controlled scientific
research.
