An Introduction to Acupuncture

TO ACUPUNCTURE A Practical Guide for GPs and other Medical Personnel Peter Pearson, MBBS, MRCGP, DRCOG The Medical Centre, Yateley, Cambedey, Surrey GU17 7LS Publisht;d in. the UK and Europe by MTP Press Limited Falcon House Lancaster, England British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Pearson, Peter An introduction to acupuncture: a practical guide for GPs and other medical personnel. 1. Acupuncture I. Title 615. 8'92 RM184 ISBN-13: 978-94-010-7935-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-3199-2 DOl: 10. 1007/978-94-009-3199-2 Published in the USA by MTPPress A division of Kluwer Academic Publishers 101 Philip Drive Norwell, MA 02061, USA Copyright 1987 MTP Press Limited Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the publishers. CONTENTS Preface 7 Acknowledgements 8 1 What is acupuncture? 9 2 Local dysfunction of channels 13 3 The channels and points 15 4 Technique 37 5 Specific conditions 45 6 Systemic treatment 53 7 Other forms of acupuncture 65 8 Academic considerations 73 9 Further information 79 References 83 Index 87 PREFACE Several years ago, a patient consulted me, and requested 'aquapuncture'. This sounded more like an underwater sexual activity than anything else, but I confessed ignorance! Several more requests highlighted my complete lack of knowledge of this subject and stimulated me into activity.