Acupuncture and moxibustion are two distinctive fields of traditional Chinese medicine that have no known parallel in the West. Acupuncture treats diseases by puncturing certain points on the body called acupoints with long metal needles and inducing stimulation by various manipulation methods. Moxibustion involves the slow burning of moxa or other materials to heat or steam the diseased area or acupoints. To achieve the desired therapeutic effect the signifcance of locating acupoints accurately cannot be overemphasized. Dr. Yang Jiasan, associate professor and head of the acupuncture Department at Dongzhimen Hospital, has been both a teacher and a clinician for decades. Through practice as well as study of acupuncture literature both ancient and modern, he has developed a method of locating points that those lacking knowledge of traditional Chinese medical theroy find easy to grasp because it uses modern anatomical landmarks as much as possible. Its efficiency has been appreciated by students as well as patients of acupuncture treatment.
|