Let’s face it – There are things they DIDN’T teach you in Acupuncture School!
• WHAT is Meridian Therapy acupuncture?
• HOW is it different from TCM acupuncture?
• WHY wasn’t this taught in Acupuncture School?
It’s important to know the answer to these questions. Understanding the complete history and nature of Acupuncture will improve your skills as a healer.
Let me give you a little background.
After my first eight years in practice, I went to China to further study Chinese herbal medicine and while there, I deepened my exposure to Chinese acupuncture. There is no doubt that TCM acupuncture is effective, either by infusing local areas with qi for localized trauma, or by using 3-point combinations (local, distal, remote) to direct and focus qi to problem areas according to zang-fu/eight category differentiation.
TCM acupuncture as a style or system corresponds closely to Chinese herbal medicine.
In herbal medicine, problems are focused on zang-fu/eight category imbalances, that is, internal problems affecting internal energetic-physiological organs. Each organ is known to behave in a certain way, and each organ has specific ways of not behaving well; these are familiar to us as the zang-fu differentiations.
Detailed differentiation is necessary in order to choose herbs or herbal formulas correctly. When a patient has a complaint, a name of a disease is given (for example, Insomnia), and then the various zang-fu differentiations are listed. A single differentiation is chosen based on clinical history, symptoms tongue and pulse, and herbs or herbal formulas are assigned addressing the differentiation.
For example, Insomnia might be differentiated as a deficiency of heart yin with exuberance of heart fire.
Herbs or herbal formulas are chosen that nourish heart yin and reduce heart fire.
Channel problems, whether due to trauma or exogenous/endogenous factors (wind, cold, heat, blood), are also treated according to zang-fu/eight category differentiation, without much attention given to relative excesses or deficiencies of the various channels.
TCM acupuncture follows the herbal model, with point combinations assigned for the various differentiation. In the case of insomnia due to deficiency of heart yin with exuberance of heart fire, the point combination would be HT 7, SP 6, KI 3 and extra An Mian point. Or a 3-point local-distal-remote combination would be recommend, such as PC 6, CV 17, and KI 3.
The TCM model is remarkably successful when using herbs as the mediation, relying on a long history of classical texts, formulas and an abundance of medicinal herbs (5000, of which 500 are in common use).
I would have to say, however, that as a stand-alone therapy, TCM acupuncture is less successful.
In my next article I will discuss how TCM acupuncture is a comparatively recent construct when it comes to acupuncture methods.
If you want to read ahead…click on my Special Report. It’s free and goes into more depth comparing TCM and Meridian Therapy. 
Download the Special Report here.
Until next time, have a great week!
Dr. Jake Paul Fratkin, OMD, L.Ac.
Special Guest Author
I would love to read more! … The full report link seems to bring me back to this page
Thanks for letting us know! Here’s the link to the report: Get the report here. I’ll correct the links in the article.