Did you know that traditionally, Lung 5 did not clear Lung Heat? Ok, ok…. To be fair, it did clear Lung Heat, but the association of Lung 5 with a specific function, or any acupuncture point for that matter, is something modern.
What I am talking about here is the difference between a point function or action (功效) and a list of indications (主治). While in modern textbooks each point is described in terms of actions and indications, this was not the case historically. For example, in Deadman, Lung 5 is said to: clear heat from the Lung and descend rebellious Qi, regulate the water passages, activate the channel, and relax the sinews. Indications on the other hand are specific disease or sign/symptoms. For Lung 5 these would include cough, coughing phlegm, dyspnea, nosebleed, pain in the arm and shoulder, etc… The list is long. However, while these are present in modern textbooks, traditionally only the indications would have been listed, not actions. I’m actually old enough to have gone to school before books like Deadman’s Manual of Acupuncture. We just had Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (affectionately known as CAM). And, in CAM, there are NO actions – only indications. In this sense, CAM is much closer to how pretty much all books were written historically. Points are given a location, needling or other treatment recommendations, and then a list of indications.
Point actions were, as Deadman points out, mostly something developed after World War II. Now, this did not happen of course ex nihilo. Point actions were deduced by looking at larger themes hinted at by point indications. Moreover, point categories were historically given actions. For example, Ying-Spring points were said to treat body heat. That’s a point action. Yet, in the 20th century all points were eventually described in text books as having actions. This is why Deadman and Al-Khafaji in their Manual of Acupuncture (1998) say, “In general, it can be said that the ascribing of actions to acupuncture points is a modern (i.e. 20th century) practice, and one that draws from the Chinese herbal medicine tradition.” As they point out, this was partly done to help integrate acupuncture with the practice of herbal medicine, the dominant form of Chinese medicine in China both at that time, and today.
To be clear, I’m not implying that I think actions are a bad idea. I think for beginning students they are a good summary that can help with ease of understanding when points can be used. But… (there’s always a but) in my opinion they sometimes over simplify points. For example, when we look at Lung 5, other traditional indications include diarrhea, abdominal distension, and vomiting. Lung 5 also has knee pain and lumbar pain on the list! These indications are not as easily understood through the lens of point actions. To do so would need some significant extrapolations and mental gymnastics. Yet, by looking at indications and deeply analyzing them we can see much larger ranges of what points treat beyond the actions that while useful for beginners, can be limiting for the more experienced clinician. Deeper analysis of indications also elucidates the myriad connections in the body between the five phases, different organs, channels, and tissue systems.
Over the last few years this topic has been of particular interest to me, and has been useful for both my understanding of Tung points as well as regular (i.e., conventional) points. If anyone is interested in exploring this topic with me, my next two classes will be devoted to analyzing point indications for conventional acupuncture points.
September 20-22 I will be teaching for 3 days in Dublin, and during that class we will cover single point analysis as well as point combination. And again, unlike most of my lectures, the topic will not be Tung points but rather conventional acupuncture points. People interested in this class (there’s still room left) can contact the course organizer in Dublin for more information and registration.
After that on Sunday, September 29, ASNY is sponsoring my class in Manhattan where we will do a shorter analysis of conventional acupuncture points. Both of these are excellent opportunities to deepen understanding of the full range of both how and why points do what they do.
Below please find an excellent video that our friend Lorraine Wilcox did on the topic of point functions and indications. I hope to see some of you either in Ireland or NYC!