Acupuncture is based on the principle of a bio-electrical energy flow that courses through the entire body in channels or meridians, this energy or Qi flow (pronounced chi) can be influenced by the insertion of very fine acupuncture needles at specific points along the channels. As most people would not be familiar with Eastern medical terminology like meridian therapy then wouldn’t it be great if you could actually see the channel’s energy via a computerised readout? In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the subtle state of the energy in your meridians or channels directly reflects the internal health of your body. Being able to actually see the state of your subtle life force energy has the potential not only to enhance the diagnosis for the practitioner but to potentially prevent many problems long before they get a chance to actually manifest into some kind of physical disorder? The disease starts way back in the energy field long before it reaches the physical body. Acupuncture is great preventative medicine.
Acugraph is a system that electrically measures the levels of source energy in your acupuncture meridian channels. Acugraph utilises a small electronic pen-like probe that is placed on the skin at acupuncture points for a few seconds until the reading is electronically recorded. The results of the Acugraph exam gives you a digital computerised image or print out of the actual internal state of your body’s energy field in real-time.
First Impressions
Another great feature of the acugraph is after some treatment a patient can track their improvements by comparing print outs from previous acugraph examinations. The graphs usually show improvements.
The great thing about the art of Chinese Medicine is that you never stop learning or researching. In my opinion when the ancient knowledge of the pulse and tongue etc is combined with the electrical measurement of the acupuncture channels then a very objective diagnosis can be concluded.
History
During one of my many research escapades on the internet, I was amazed to find out that electrically measuring acupuncture channels was not a new thing. In 1951 an eminent Japanese doctor Dr.Yoshio Nakatani MD, Ph.D. developed a method of examining the meridian system of the body through electronic measurements. This technology today has been further refined into the Acugraph software.
Dr.Nakatani first developed the procedure of electronic evaluation of the meridian system by measuring skin conductance at special acupuncture points called yuan (source) points at the wrist and ankle. But it wasn’t until the mid-1980s, that the art of electronic evaluation for diagnostic purposes in acupuncture entered into high technology by incorporating computer enhanced evaluation. Nakatani created one of the most significant acupuncture diagnostic methods that have been re-created today with the introduction of the Acugraph. When one compares the findings of learned Asian masters of acupuncture using pulse and tongue diagnosis with the findings of acu-graphing, the meridians shown to be involved are identical. In my own experiments, I discovered significant accurate cross-references between electronic Acu-graphing and traditional tongue diagnoses. One of my patients had a very red tongue tip, this usually indicates a pattern of excessive heat causing heart imbalance, and when I electronically Acu-graphed the patient on the source acupuncture points it showed an excessive pericardium (heart-related) channel. This was indicated ón the graph examination results by a red bar with a high reading. So in this instance, modern science and ancient wisdom came together and confirmed the tongue diagnosis,
Acugraph Meridian Imaging
In Acugraphing the bio-electrical energy of the body the practitioner gets a clear image of the state of the energy confirming the tongue and pulse findings with all the other information from the initial consultation intake form. The Acugraph simply gives more information and the more info that can be gleaned from the patient via the initial consultation, then the more precise the diagnosis will be. Information is vital, this is why the TCM practitioner spends so much time on the initial consultation. In Chinese medicine, it is the experience and skill of the practitioner in formulating the information into a treatment that makes the real difference to the success of the treatment.
No gadget can ever replace the hands-on interactions between a TCM practitioner and patient. One piece of information alone can never give the full picture, however, after considering Nakatami’s unique contribution to acupuncture it would be a great shame not to include his great discovery in the form of an Acugraph examination for the benefit of all patients and practitioners alike. This is one of the reasons that I have decided to introduce this great technology to all of my clinics.