TCM

Best Books for Learning About Acupuncture

Best Books for Learning About Acupuncture

Whether you’re a patient or another medical provider, you’ve heard the benefits of acupuncture, maybe even experienced them yourself, and want to learn more. You don’t have to spend four years in a masters program the way an acupuncturist does and you don’t have to dig deep into the theory, though that may interest you as well. This collection is in response to one of the most common questions I’m asked: “What can I read to better understand acupuncture and Chinese medicine?”

Here are four very different book options (with a few bonus suggestions) that I recommend to anyone who wants to explore this beautiful and effective medical system as it works in and beyond the treatment room.

Japanese Meridian Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Classical and Clinical Comparison

Japanese Meridian Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Classical and Clinical Comparison

A Note From Shawna

This paper was originally titled, "Classic Texts: The Foundation of Japanese Meridian Therapy Assessed Clinically in Comparison to Traditional Chinese Medicine." I wrote it during the final years of my masters program in acupuncture at AIMC Berkeley for a course on classical texts.

This paper presumes knowledge of the medicine so is most appropriate for other practitioners, but as patients often ask about Japanese vs Chinese medicine, a general audience might find it interesting to skim. I'm happy to discuss any questions you may have after reading.

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How can Japanese Meridian Therapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine have come from the same classic texts and yet come to such different conclusions for diagnosis and treatment? This is the question I chose to consider by delving into Chapters Sixty-Nine and Seventy-Five of the Nan Jing, considered the foundation of Japanese Meridian Therapy.

Meridian Therapy was founded in the 1930s out of a desire to “reexamine the classics and to clinically test the knowledge gained therein in order to extract the truth” (Kuwahara, xvii). The principle methods of Japanese Meridian Therapy (JMT or MT) are to palpate and assess the meridians, using the pulse for both diagnosis and continual assessment of the progress of treatment, and to use the meridians in this way to understand the balance of deficiency and excess caused by pathogens, the seven emotions, and the fundamental interaction of the meridians and organs to themselves and each other (the Five Phases). This is fairly different from Eight Principle and Zang Fu Diagnosis as interpreted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In the TCM approach, we utilize the four diagnostic methods (asking, looking, listening, and palpating), base our diagnosis on the collection of symptoms and signs based on the chief complaint, and identify a specific pattern based on the organs, yin/yang, and body elements (like blood, body fluids, and qi) in disharmony, all of which determines the course of treatment. Depending on the TCM practitioner, palpation may be used to refine the choice of points (this is common at least in the case of choosing local ashi points) or at the extreme they may only use the trusted points in texts from Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (CAM). I admit this is a gross simplification of the vast differences within the practices of TCM and JMT respectively, but seeing from the extremes can help to highlight the differences between the disciplines.

Inspiration from the Past

Inspiration from the Past

Over the past few months I've been taking time to read a brilliant little book called Miscellaneous Records of a Female Doctor. It's a new (published 2015) translation of a discovery from the rare book library of the Beijing Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, an account of 31 cases by the Ming Dynasty practitioner Tán Yǔnxián. That's a female doctor from 1500s China! I heard about the book while listening to an episode of the Yin Yang podcast with guest Lorraine Wilcox, who was speaking about moxibustion (Episode #34 Why Moxa?). Moxibustion, also known as moxa, is a particular love of mine so I leapt to hear this topic as a treat. Turns out that in addition to her fascinating study of moxa, Wilcox translated this Ming Dynasty book. Who knows how many other female doctors there were at the time or how many wrote books, but I'm glad this one survived. It's exciting to read as I operate in the modern world of our profession.

“Cases during the Ming were not only filtered through the male doctor’s understanding, but the reported symptoms were filtered through the husband’s words.

Tán's patients were all female, ranging in age from six to sixty-nine. During the Ming Dynasty, women had to have a male relative present when seeing a male doctor so part of what set her apart was surely her ability to speak with a patient one on one and not to have the male explain her symptoms for her!