Have you encountered a graph that looks like this?
Those are some low readings!
Perhaps you’ve had a patient or two that read very low. Perhaps you could barely get any readings at all. I’ve encountered a few of those myself.
What causes low readings? And what can I do about it? Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Remember, you are measuring electrical skin conductance. This means you are evaluating how well the patient’s skin conducts electricity at certain points. Some patients are naturally more conductive, some are less so. Patients who tend to measure low will have that tendency, even when they’re very well balanced. Focus on balancing before you worry too much about changing the patient’s conductivity.
- We did a statistical analysis on a ridiculously large number of graphs and found that older people tend to have lower conductance. It’s simply part of the aging process.
- Similarly, women tend to have lower averages than men.
- Darker skin tends to have lower readings.
- If your patient is dehydrated, the readings will be lower. Make sure your patients are drinking plenty of water!
- Now, outside the above factors, your patient may read low due to a lack of circulating Chi. In this case, you might consider herbal treatment, Moxibustion, or treating the Jing-well points with laser. But remember, you can’t expect every patient to come up to the same average reading. Skin is going to do what it does, and everybody’s skin is different. Focus on balancing the meridians with each other.
Also remember that when readings are very low, you’ll see fewer high, low or split findings, simply because there’s little room for variability when everything’s close to rock bottom. In a case like this, do what you can to address the items above and test again at the next visit. 
You can also read more about low graphs at a post
I wrote in 2010 – Click Here. (Be sure to read the comments – VERY interesting!)
Measuring and treating meridian balance is fundamental to acupuncture, yet it’s not really addressed in the typical TCM approach.
Find out how you can vastly improve your acupuncture outcomes by synergistically using meridian balancing in your TCM practice.
Download Dr. Jake Fratkin’s free article: Choosing Meridian Therapy over TCM: Why I Use AcuGraph. You’ll learn some surprising things!
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