Basic factors for inducing divarication about the location of some acupoints
Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2008 Apr;33(2):139-41.
Institute of Acu-moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China. wangyongtcm@126.com
The curative effect of acupuncture depends much on accurate location of acupoints. But, in the developmental course of Chinese acu-moxibustion medicine, some divarications about the location of acupoints have occurred for ages. In the process of formulating international standard of acupoint location, experts from China, Japan and Korea had different viewpoints about the location of 92 acupoints. After reviewing Chinese ancient and modern literatures, authors of the present paper sum up five basic factors influencing the location of acupoints: (1) different understandings about the bone-length; (2) changes of bone-length; (3) faults during copying literature; (4) different understandings on the location in the text of books; (5) evolvement of concepts. These viewpoints may be helpful to solve the divarication of acupoints' location.
