There are two principal therapeutic methods in the Oriental medicine viz, the physical and the chemical methods, of which the latter corresponds to the “Kanpo Medicine” and the former to the Oriental physiotherapy.
In the systems of clinical examination of the Oriental physiotherapy, all of the exterior informations given by a sick body are accepted to be represented by signs on the twelve meridians. And when abnormality is found in a system of “Keiraku” and “Keiketsu, ” a simple and mild physical energy is to be applied to the said system in order to adjust an unbalance in the function of the living body.
The most significant difference between the Oriental and the Western medicine exists in the therapeutical system of diagnosis characteristic of the former.
There, all of the informations given by a sick body are directly correlated to the therapeutic principle. In detail, the over-all informations are firstly put in correspondence to some of the symptoms and signs of the twelve meridians (namely the pattern of the sickness image) and further classified into someone of the five levels in the light of the Principle of Five Components (WUHANG) on the Five Elements. In other words, the systems of the clinical diagnosis in the Oriental medicine are considered to be intensively based on the Five Elements Theory constituting its fundamental principle of classification and the clinical categories supported by the Theory of Twelve Meridians.
Although the conceptional constraction of the Oriental physiotherapy is generally accepted to be accomplished to apply only to the practice, there remained many oburities in its actual conception, at least lacking its scientific substantiation upon logical treatment.
The author has studied the validity of the diagnostic systems used in the Oriental medicine from the standpoint that the clinical and therapeutical systems of the Oriental physiotherapy are based on a “traditional hypothesis” worthy to be investigated.
(1) The informations of the Oriental physiotherapy are divided into four groups (system). The first group (Symptom system) consists mainly of the subjective complaints of a patient and partly of signs, where 122 informations are used in total. The second group (Five Component System) is further divided into 9 sub-groups each of which consists of every 5 informations corresponding to 5 patterns (Elements)-namely, fire, earth, metal, water and wood-, where 45 informations are used in total. the third group (Keiketsu System) consists of palpation findings of YU-BO system, where 24 informations are obtained. The last group (Puls System) consists of pulse information, surperficial and deep, full or vacant, where 24 informations are obtained in total.
In this study, separate diagnoses on 200 cases of inpatients with miscellaneous diseases have been made in the manner of the Oriental medicine starting from the individual informations and compared with those made in the manner of the Western madicine. Consequently, there is seen scarce tendency that a specified name of sickness corresponds to a specified name of “Keiraku.”
(2) The frequency of appearance of symptom systems corresponding to each Keiraku ranges from to 70, giving a wide distribution. χ²-test indicates that only 9 of the total (122) informations are on the level of significance (p less then 5%) to be useful for grouping of symptoms.
(3) Factor analysis of symptom systems has not revealed the presence of the twelve classification of the Keiraku sickness described in the classics of the Oriental medicine.
(4) Mutual comparisons of the individual 5 way diagnoses derived from every information source have been made only to give a poor coincidence as a whole, of which max. is 30% and min. is 13%.
(5) The Five Component Theory of the Oriental physiotherapy proved to be statistically scarcely significant.

In order to objectively evaluate the information on the diagnosis based on the oriental medicine, the signs and symptoms of 70 patients who visited our outpatient department were analyzed and evaluated. As a result, likelihood of manifest differences between the patients treated in our clinic and those treated in the clinics of general medicare facilities was found.
It was also clarified that image technology was found to be useful for objective diagnosis of the symptoms in accordance with the oriental medicine.

The effects of electro-acupuncture on the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and regional cerebral glucose utilization (rCMRglc) are unknown.
We examined the rCBF and rCMRglc in five normal adult volunteers and ten patients with cerebrovascular accident and brain tumor using positron emission tomography (PET) in order to investigate the effects of acupuncture on functions of central nerve system.
The stimulation by electro-acupuncture was performed on HOKU and SHOU-SANLI on one side. Electro-acupuncture was done for 10 minutes, at the frequency of 2Hz to cause a slight muscle twich. The rCBF and rCMRglc in volunteers were mearsured before and after electro-acupuncture stimulation.
The results are as follows;
1) On the OM45mm slice image, stimulation to HOKU and SHOU-SANLI on one side increased the rCBF and rCMRglc of frontal and temporal lobe on the opposite side of stimulation.
2) On the OM80mm slice image, electro-acupuncture incrased the rCBF and rCBFglc of frontal and temporal lobe on both the right and left side.
These results suggest that stimulation of electro-acupuncture may influences the rCBF and rCMRglc.

Object: There is a saying in the classics as follows; “The key to acupuncture is to control Shén (the spirit)” (Emperor's Canon of Medicine). This saying emphasizes that control of the spirit is the fundamental principle of clinical application of acupuncture and moxibustion. The term “spirit” here implies function of the central nervous system in a broad sense. For the purpose of examining the effect of needle stimulation on the function of the central nervous system, research was conducted applying electroencephalographic (EEG) topography and positron CT.
Methods: The research was conducted on 30 subjects consisting of healthy adult volunteers and patients with various diseases. Two types of stimulation, electric needle stimulation and TEAS, were adopted. Sites of stimulation were IC₁₀ Shousanli-IC₄ Hoku, bilateral VF₁₂ Head-Wanku, and G₃₆ Tsusanli-LP₆ Shanyinchiao. Stimulation at a frequency of 2Hz was administered at such an intensity that a light muscular twitching was induced at the sites of stimulation. Electrization was conducted for 10-20 minutes. EEG topography was performed according to the ten-twenty electrode system. EEG was recorded by unipolar leads from 12 sites on the scalp, and was analyzed mainly on EEG topograms obtained before, during, and after the stimulation, using an EEG topography system (Nihon Denki Sanei Sokki Co.). Concerning positron CT, qualitative measurement (¹¹C-CO₂ and ¹¹C-glucose) and quantitative measurement (¹⁵O₂ and C¹⁵O₂) were conducted. Data was collected using HEADTOM (Shimazu Seisakujo Co.). The region of interest was identified in the brain using image processing apparatus for medical acupuncture use, and pictures obtained by positron CT before, during and after stimulation was analyzed.
Results:
1) Changes in EEG power of the EEG topogram were observed in all cortical regions, especially in the area from the frontal lobe to the occipital lobe. The subjects could be divided into two types, the type in which the power increased only in the α zone, and the type in which the power both increased in θ and α zones.
2) Positron CT revealed that “dé-qi” (the acupuncture feeling) transiently invigorates the paleocortex and the neocortex, and exerts influences on a wide range of cranial nervous cells via the A₁₀ nerve.
3) Variation in regional cerebral blood flow induced by the electric needle stimulation was 15-20ml/100g brain tissue/min on average.
Conclusion: Comfortable stimulation by the needle method is effective in eliminating disharmony between the neocortex and the paleocortex, regulating the function of the autonomic nerves, and stabilizing the spirit.