Acupuncture points are points on the skin surface that communicate with the channels.
Through their stimulation with acupuncture and other techniques of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture points serve to regulate the energy of the organs and entrails.
They are called in Chinese Shu Xue. Shu is transportation. Xue is hollow, orifice.
An acupuncture point is a very specific place of transmission, concentration and manifestation of the energy and blood that circulates through a channel.
The points were discovered long before the channels. In the Stone Age they discovered that stimulating areas of the skin with heat (hot stones, coal, lit herbs) relieved pain and discomfort. Progressively they experimented and saw that reducing those stimulus areas improved efficacy. They kept reducing them until finding the points. And they tried other stimuli, massage, needling. They used bone needles, fish spines and later bronze needles.
Types of acupuncture points
- Channel points. Those of the 12 main channels plus those of Du Mai and Ren Mai.
- Extraordinary points or points outside the channels. They do not belong to any channel, but are related to them and complement them. They have fixed location, name and function on specific symptoms.
- Ashi points. They do not belong to any channel. They are painful when pressed. They have no fixed location or name.
Actions of acupuncture points
Local action
All points have an action near their location. They can treat pain, numbness sensation, tingling or limitation of movement.
Distal action
Not all points have it, only the special points. For example LI-4 located in the hand, treats problems of the head.
Global action
On the whole organism. For example ST-36 tonifies the vital energy of the body.
Multiple actions
The point ST-36 is an example of a point with the three actions:
- Local. Knee pain.
- Distal. Stomach pain.
- Global. Tonifies vital Qi.