The "body schema" of acupuncture and moxibustion is centered on the meridian system and represents a corporeal perspective of "heaven-connection", embodying the harmony between nature and humanity. It integrates the cyclic schema of the heavenly cycling, the meridian growth and decline schema of the guaqi theory, the twelve zodiac demarcation schema from astrological and astronomical studies, and the nine-palace and eight-trigrams schema of temporal and spatial locations. It presents the theoretical origins of the harmony between nature and humanity in acupuncture and moxibustion along with medical thoughts under the background of social concepts. The numerical arts of acupoint number and acupuncture-moxibustion quantity, those of acupuncture-moxibustion time and taboos, as well as the time-based acupuncture-moxibustion patterns, all of these thoroughly reflect the application of the body schema of acupuncture and moxibustion by early medical practitioners in ancient time. The study on the body philosophy in acupuncture and moxibustion should start from the original appearance of early classical acupuncture-moxibustion theory, trace the source of body philosophy of acupuncture and moxibustion, seek the truth of temporal body medicine, and perfect the body philosophy research of contemporary acupuncture and moxibustion, so as to improve the dual attributes of acupuncture and moxibustion in humanities and science.
Moxibustion/history* ; Humans ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; History, Ancient ; Meridians ; Astrology

Based on the analysis of the relevant records of the contralateral bloodletting technique, it is believed that this needling technique has 3 key characteristics, including "contralateral selection of points", "points on the four extremities dominated" and "collaterals selected rather than meridian points". Through the studies on philology and the annotation by the doctors in the past dynasties, a part of point prescriptions for the contralateral bloodletting is investigated, and those not belonged to the category of this needling technique in Suwen: Miuci Lun (On Contralateral Bloodletting) are distinguished. It is concluded that the failure of consensus-making in classifying point prescriptions is due to the lack of understanding on the characteristics of contralateral bloodletting and the misunderstanding on the errors of sentences and words. It is suggested that the study on theoretic concepts should lay on the problems relevant with the generalization and alienation of concepts. The mode of "combination of the detail with the whole" should be adopted. It starts from grasping the overall by systematic review, and followed by deliberating in details, so as to correctly identify the original concept and connotation.
Humans ; Bloodletting/methods* ; Acupuncture Points ; History, Ancient ; Meridians ; China

Zhenjiu Bianyong Tukao (Illustration on Acupuncture and Moxibustion) is composed of the empirical prescriptions, dictated by ZHANG Xichun, the medical master of acupuncture in the Qing Dynasty, recorded and drawn in detail by SU Yuanzhen. There are 5 existing editions of this book preserved, and stored in library of Shanghai University of TCM, bookstore of Nanjing Ancient Classics, library of Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of TCM, library of Beijing University of CM, and China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, respectively. Different from the official canonical book, this book provides a simplified and easily understandable contents, including 3 sections, named illustrations, prescriptions, and medicinal properties. In the book, the acupoints were illustrated specially rather than character portrayal, and the empirical treatment for painful symptoms was emphasized. The majority of prescriptions was intended for external application, often accompanied by ritualistic incantations. Medicinal herbs were systematically classified, and the effects were described clearly. This book provides the records on the experience in treatment for common diseases in rural areas, combined with the unique pictorial view of acupuncture-moxibustion prescriptions, representing the diversity of local medicine in the Qing Dynasty.
China ; Humans ; Books/history* ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; History, Ancient ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/history* ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture/history*

The Fragment of Dunhuang Ancient Tibetan Moxibustion Therapy contains rich content on fire moxibustion therapy of Tubo-period Tibetan medicine, characterized by distinctive clinical features of Tibetan acupuncture and strong regional attributes. This paper systematically reviews the relevant materials on moxibustion in the Fragment and summarizes the findings as follows: Tibetan fire moxibustion mainly uses mugwort as the material, and terms like "fine mugwort", "broad bean" and "sheep dung pellet" refer to the size of the moxa cone. The number of moxa cones used is predominantly odd numbers, usually ranging from 5 to 21. The main indications for fire moxibustion cover internal medicine, external medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, and various pain syndromes. The therapy advocates for treating acute conditions and heat syndromes with moxibustion. The manuscript also records detailed contraindications, including time-based and seasonal taboos. Moxibustion is applied to both local and distal acupoints, reflecting the therapeutic concept of treating both proximal and distal regions. Furthermore, it documents simple and practical acupoint localization methods such as surface anatomical markers, proportional bone measurement, finger measurement, and hand-span measurement. Compared with contemporaneous Chinese medical moxibustion techniques, the moxibustion methods recorded in this Fragment are rich in content and present unique Tibetan theoretical characteristics. It provides valuable data and evidence for the excavation, application, and further research of Tibetan acupuncture and moxibustion.
Moxibustion/instrumentation* ; Humans ; History, Ancient ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional/history* ; Tibet ; Acupuncture Points

"Jingmai binghou" (meridian symptoms) is not the original term in ancient works, and it is proposed in modern teaching materials of acupuncture. It refers to "the diseases caused by the invasion of pathogenic factors into meridians", and "diseases of the affected meridians", recorded in jingmai (Meridian) of Lingshu (Miraculous Pivot). The proposal of this term is related to the academic tendency of textbook writers and the influence of TCM policy in China. Through collating and analyzing the records of meridian disorders in ancient works, it is found that besides the classic "meridian symptoms", many zangfu disorders, the disorders along the running course of meridian based on meridian differentiation, collateral disorders and the disorders of the exterior-interior relationship of meridians should be classified as meridian disorder. In order to accurately express the rich content of "Jingmai binghou", from the perspective of terminology normalization, it is believed that the expression as "meridian-collateral dominated disease" may reflect its connotation more comprehensively.
Meridians ; Humans ; China ; Terminology as Topic ; History, Ancient ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/history*

It attempts to determine the theoretical connotation and clinical application of the twelve-meridian based syndrome/pattern differentiation of TCM through the systematic analysis and elaboration, so as to promote the completion of meridian differentiation system. The exploration is conducted on the main body of traditional meridian-syndrome differentiation, meaning the meridian differentiation in terms of location of illness and that in terms of symptoms. The existing problems and causes are analyzed, and the specific methods of meridian differentiation put forward in line with the characteristics of meridian distribution and symptoms. In reference with Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperors' Canon of Medicine) and other ancient literature, the theoretical evidences of meridian differentiation are deeply analyzed in view of physiological/pathological characteristics that has been neglected in the past, such as qi and blood of meridians, opening, closing and pivoting, and time. Additionally, the category issues related to twelve-meridian differentiation and their relationship with six-meridian differentiation are expounded. The summary on the multiple connotations of twelve-meridian differentiation is of great significance on re-understanding meridians, perfecting meridian-collateral differentiation system and improving the accuracy on meridian-based treatment. Besides, the reconstruction of meridian differentiation and its framework is considered profoundly.
Meridians ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; History, Ancient ; Acupuncture Points ; Medicine in Literature

OBJECTIVE: To explore the rules of acupoint selection and compatibility of acupuncture and moxibustion in treatment of chronic cough using data mining. METHODS: The ancient and modern medical record cloud platform, and the databases, i.e. CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, EMbase, Web of Science and PubMed, were searched to screen the ancient and modern literature on acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of chronic cough. The prescription database was established for acupuncture and moxibustion treatment of chronic cough, and the analysis conducted on the frequency and use percentage in the aspects of intervention measures, acupoint selection, acupoint distribution, meridian tropism, special points and acupoint combination, as well as the association rules and clustering rules of acupoint selection. The subgroup analysis was performed in accordance with the etiology of chronic cough and intervention measures. RESULTS: A total of 106 articles were included and 158 prescriptions were extracted. The intervention measures were acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medication and the combination of several measures. The high-frequency acupoints included Feishu (BL13), Zusanli (ST36), Dazhui (GV14), Pishu (BL20), Danzhong (CV17), Shenshu (BL23), Lieque (LU7), Dingchuan (EX-B1), Tiantu (CV22), and Fenglong (ST40). These acupoints are mainly distributed on the back, lumbar region, chest and abdomen. The involved meridians were bladder meridian of foot-taiyang, conception vessel, and lung meridian of hand-taiyin. The special points covered back-shu points, crossing points and five-shu point. Regarding the compatibility of acupoints, the combination of upper and lower points, and the combination of front and back points were predominant in treatment. The analysis of association rules found that the support of Feishu (BL13)→Zusanli (ST36) was the highest; the cluster analysis obtained 8 clusters of acupoints. The acupoint compatibility and overall rules were similar when cough variant asthma (CVA) or the mixed reasons were involved, and the local treatment approach was adopted if the etiology of disease was related to upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) and gastroesophageal reflux cough (GERC). The acupoint selection was similar among different intervention measures. When two kinds of measures were combined in treatment, Feishu (BL13), Pishu (BL20) and Zusanli (ST36) were the most common. CONCLUSION In treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion for chronic cough, the acupoints are selected on the affected local area, depending on syndrome differentiation, and focusing on back-shu points. The main acupoints are Feishu (BL13), Zusanli (ST36), Dazhui (GV14), Pishu (BL20), Danzhong (CV17) and Shenshu (BL23). The combined therapy is dominant with acupuncture, moxibustion and herbal medicine involved.
Acupuncture Points ; Moxibustion/history* ; Humans ; Cough/history* ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; Chronic Disease/therapy* ; Data Mining ; History, Ancient ; Meridians ; Chronic Cough

In 1929, George Soulié de Morant and Paul Ferreyrolles co-authored their first acupuncture-moxibustion paper titled "L' Acuponcture en Chine vingt siècles avant J.-C. et la réflexothérapie moderne", greatly advancing the development of acupuncture-moxibustion in Europe. Their paper systematically explains the holistic view and the concept of yin-yang balance in traditional Chinese medicine, describes the techniques of acupuncture and moxibustion, innovatively classifies acupuncture-moxibustion as "reflexotherapy", organizes the effects of certain acupuncture points illustrated on human acupoint atlas; and for the first time, it summarizes the correspondence between acupuncture points and Weihe trigger points. In the historical background of the neo-Hippocratic movement, they used the existing theories at that time to explain acupuncture, and adopted the analogical medicine to explore the mechanisms of acupuncture-moxibustion, which gradually initiated the modern era of acupuncture-moxibustion in France. Such research method is conducive to reducing the unfamiliarity of acupuncture-moxibustion among westerners, deepening their understanding of its theories and therapeutic effect, and also integrating it with other medical research. It breaks through the limitations of traditional theories and obtains the self-improvement and progress.
Humans ; Moxibustion/history* ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; China ; History, Ancient ; History, 20th Century ; Acupuncture/history* ; Reflexotherapy/history* ; Acupuncture Points ; History, 19th Century ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/history*

In the classic of acupuncture-moxibustion theory, biaoben (trunk and root), genjie (root and knot) and genliuzhuru (qi running among five-shu points, rising from a well, gliding as a spring, pouring through as a stream, flowing as a river and entering inwards a sea) of meridians are similar to meridian distribution and acupoint-like sites. Their concepts and theoretical properties had not been clarified in later generations. The unclear profiles of their connotation and meanings have affected the understanding of sijie (four pathways of qi located on the heat, chest, abdomen and leg) and sihai (four seas, including sea of marrow, sea of qi, sea of water and food, and sea of blood). Hence, it becomes a crucial point where the meridian theory and acupoint theory are not clearly identified. Based on wuzang tongtian (interrelationship between five-zang organs and nature) in tianhui yijian (tianhui medical bamboo slips), focusing on the association with meridian biaoben, the paper analyzes the formation and connotation of these concepts. It is considered that the involved properties imply the summarization on the rules of acupoint indications and functions, which belongs to the category of acupoint theory.
Meridians ; Humans ; Acupuncture Points ; History, Ancient ; China ; Acupuncture Therapy/history*

OBJECTIVE: To retrieve and collate the earliest recorded texts in ancient acupuncture-moxibustion prescriptions for chest obstruction and heart pain, and explore the acupoint composition principles. METHODS: The Excel 2016 software was used to build a data set of ancient textual records on acupuncture-moxibustion prescriptions for chest obstruction and heart pain. After the terminology related to etiology, pathogenesis, accompanying symptoms, acupoints, and treatment methods unified, the frequency statistical analysis and association rule algorithms were applied to analyze the implicit association patterns among various elements of syndrome differentiation, treatment selection, and acupoint selection in ancient prescriptions from multiple dimensions. RESULTS: The basic acupoints of high frequency in ancient acupuncture-moxibustion treatment for chest obstruction and heart pain were Daling (PC7), Neiguan (PC6), Taixi (KI3), Taichong (LR3), Shangwan (CV13), Yongquan (KI1), and Xinshu (BL15). The prescription was mostly composed of yuan-source points. Besides, the combinations of two of five-shu points, five-shu points with luo-connecting points, and yuan-source points with luo-connecting points were common. The high-frequency points were from the pericardium meridian of hand-jueyin, conception vessel, kidney meridian of foot-shaoyin, liver meridian of foot-jueyin, and bladder meridian of foot-taiyang, generally distributed on the yin part of the arm, abdominal region, the yin part of foot, the back, and the yin part of the leg. Zhigou (TE6), Zusanli (ST36), Baihui (GV20), and Jiuwei (CV15), as well as the specific acupoint combinations, were used for chest obstruction and heart pain due to qi stagnation. Moxibustion was more suitable for chest obstruction and heart pain caused by qi reversion, cold and qi stagnation. Shaohai (HT3) was invariably selected when hand tremor was accompanied; Zhongchong (PC9) combined with Daling (PC7) was selected specially for feverish sensation in the palms. Moxibustion was exclusively applied to Shangwan (CV13), and Taixi (KI3) was often stimulated with moxibustion. At Neiguan (PC6) and Daling (PC7), moxibustion was delivered in combination with acupuncture (high confidence was presented in acupuncture). CONCLUSION In ancient acupuncture-moxibustion treatment for chest obstruction and heart pain, the points of the pericardium meridian of hand-jueyin are predominant, coordinated with those of the liver meridian of foot-jueyin, kidney meridian of foot-shaoyin, conception vessel, and bladder meridian of foot-taiyang. It follows the principles of acupoint selection, "the pericardium acting on behalf of the heart", "regulating qi as the priority", "combination of yuan-source points with luo-connecting points", and "selecting nearby points along the affected meridians".
Humans ; Moxibustion/history* ; Acupuncture Therapy/history* ; Acupuncture Points ; History, Ancient ; Data Mining ; Chest Pain/history* ; Prescriptions/history* ; Meridians