Acupuncture Terminology

Why a Glossary of Acupuncture Terminology?

Because your acupuncturist commonly uses words in an uncommon way.

When you visit a traditional or classical acupuncturist they will use particular sorting principles to make sense of the complexity of human health and illness. The primary sorting principles in use are yin/yang and the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water. These are used as diagnostic tools to reframe the condition when patients present us with a Western diagnosis. But remember in reality we treat the person, not the condition.

Pronounced and sometimes spelt chi.

Qi/chi is energy. Subdivisions of qi are:

Yin is cooling, restful, relaxing, conserving energy

Yang is hot, active, restless, transforming

Jing is inherited energy from pre-birth

Yuan is constitutional energy and vitality and is from pre-birth

Ying is nutritional energy

Wei is defence energy similar to the immune system

Zhong is energy supplemented through breath. It controls blood circulation, especially to the hands and feet.

Meridians

These are energy pathways running throughout the body.

Subdivisions are:

Twelve main meridians: the pathways on which most of the acupuncture points are located

Luo meridians: these are connecting meridians

TMM: these govern energy in the muscles.

Divergent meridians: deeper pathways diverting pathological qi away from organs

Eight extra meridians: These are meridians affecting our constitutional energy, reproductive energy and body shape and posture.

Pathological Terms

These concepts are the sorting principles used by acupuncturists to classify groups of symptoms

Excess: this means over-activity of a meridian function, or of yin or yang.

Deficiency: means under-activity of a meridian function, or of yin or yang.

Yin deficiency leads to e.g. hot flushes, insomnia, anxiety or thirst.

Yang deficiency leads to e.g. coldness, tiredness, indigestion or backache.

Stagnation: this is usually of qi, blood or damp, and leads to pain or lumps or blockage.

Damp: Any symptom of heaviness or stickiness e.g. chronic catarrh, thrush, MEsymptoms, cystitis.

Meridian Names

These are called after the organs through which they pass. However, they most often reflect pathology along the meridian pathway and only occasionally pathology in the corresponding organ. The following, extremely brief, symptom pictures will highlight the difference between Chinese and Western usage of the terms:

Lung - breathlessness, retention of urine, sadness and grief.

Colon - headaches, difficult labour, eye problems

Stomach - Bowel troubles, gum disorders.

Spleen - digestive problems, menstrual or bleeding problems.

Heart - insomnia, forgetfulness, anxiety, palpitations.

Small intestine - shoulder and neck pain, indecision

Bladder - backache, headache, sciatica

Kidney - sore knees, back, joints, tinnitus, impotence, night sweats.

Heart governor - chest pains, emotional difficulties, nausea and vomiting.

Triple burner - deafness, mumps, influenza, pains in the ribs, poor temperature regulation.

Gall bladder - Migraine, pains in the ribs, pituitary problems.

Liver - Anger, PMT, headache, irritable bowel syndrome.

Pulses

An acupuncturist will feel for your pulse on the normal radial artery, just like your doctor or nurse. However, he or she is looking for quite different sensations including:

28 pulse qualities e.g.

soggy - relates to damp

choppy - relates to blood stagnation

hollow - relates to blood deficiency

superficial - relates to yin deficiency

thready - deficiency symptom

According to Acupuncture diagnostic principles, there are 12 normal positions of the pulse reflecting the energy of the 12 main meridians.

Pulses of 9 regions: Occasionally pulses in other parts of the body may be checked. There are three on the face and neck, three at the hand, and three on the leg and foot. However these are not commonly used. They relate to the Taoist concept of Heaven, Earth and Mankind.

This glossary is very over-simplified. It is intended to give an impression, only, of the concepts that are used by acupuncturists, and how they differ from western medical concepts. This is not intended to be a do-itЦyour-self diagnostic aid. For instance insomnia can be caused by stomach excess as well as liver fire and heart yin deficiency. So please don't self diagnose!

A final note

Just because you may have a symptom on a particular meridian, this does not mean that you will eventually get organ problems related to that meridian. Chinese medicine is much more complex than that.

I hope that page will be an aid to better communication between yourself and your acupuncturist.

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