The Distribution of Skin Temperature and “Keiraku Keiketsu” Phenomena
- VernacularTitle:皮膚温分布と経絡, 経穴現象
- Author:
Kazushi NISHIJO
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- From:The Journal of The Japanese Society of Balneology, Climatology and Physical Medicine
1976;39(3-4):1-96
- CountryJapan
- Language:Japanese
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Abstract:
The acupuncture and moxibustion are the physical therapy method developed in the Orient since thousands years ago.
The “Keiraku and Keiketsu” are the fundamental principle of diagnosis and therapy in this field.
The “Keiraku and Keiketsu” were the outcome of the empirical knowledges accumulated and systematized over many years through unprejudiced but sharp observations of peoples on the macroscopic expression of the body reactions. They form the grounds of functional structures of human bodies in the oriental medicine.
The diagnostic system in the oriental medicine comprises “Bo”- (inspection), “Bun”- (auscultation), “Mon”- (question), “Setsu”- (palpation with pressure). The four diagnostic methods can make up the disease patterns by specifying the subjective symptoms and body surface findings (tenderness, induration, sense of cold, and sense of heat) of patients as evidences of changes in the “Keiraku relating to organ” system.
Of the body surface symptoms, the informations of temperature, perceived by the sense of cold and heat, have been the objectives of observation of disease patterns as important signs of life phenomena.
The author, therefore, carried out scientific studies of the temperature informations in the oriental medicine on 88 normal adults and 26 patients using thermister and infrared thermography.
A working hypothesis was postulated that “Keiraku and Keiketsu” were reaction systems and reaction points, both of which were formed mainly on the basis of the neurological and circulatory systems in human bodies as the regulation and transmission devices.
The author, therefore, investigated the distribution of skin temperature systematically in normal adults and patients in order to clarify the relation between “Keiraku and Keiketsu” system and body surface circulation system and tried to prove the existence of “Keiraku and Keiketsu” objectively from this view points.
The changes in reactions of human bodies by spot stimuli (acupuncture and moxibustion) upon “Keiraku and Keiketsu” were observed and evaluated in the above-mentioned two groups. The results were as described below.
I. Distribution of Systemic Skin Temperature of Normal Adult Male.
(1) The distribution of systemic skin temperature of normal adult male was found to be symmetrical on both the body trunk and the extremities.
(2) The distribution of skin temperature of the body trunk indicated a slight difference in both the thoraco-abdominal and dorso-lumbar region which could be determined within a range as small as 1-3°C. In the dorso-lumbar region, the upper part of shoulder, the intermediate zone between bilateral scapulae and vertebral column were of higher temperature, while the lateral thorax and loin showed a lower temperature. In the thoraco-abdominal region, the infraclavicular area, sternal part, epigastrium, hypochondrium, median part of upper abdomen, lateral abdomen, and both sides of lower abdomen indicated higher temperature, where as the mamma region indicated a lower temperature. The temperature of skin of the abdomen varies with the thickness of subcutaneous fat, and indicates complicated distribution in the cases with thick subcutaneous fat. (Room temperature=24°C)
(3) The distribution of skin temperature of upper and lower extremities varies with individuals, however in 15 out of 19 cases (79%), the difference in the entire upper extremities amounted to 2.1°C, while in the lower extremities in 13 cases (68%) it amounted to 2.9°C. Thus, both of them indicated in average stable distribution of the skin temperature.
(4) With determination of temperature using thermography, stable temperature distribution can be attained when the area of exposure (bare region) is limited to the minimum.
(5) When the normal subjects became naked in the low-temperature r
