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Acupuncture Formulas & Point Selection
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Acupuncture Point Combinations, Key to Clinical Success
by Jeremy Ross
In the foreword, Dr. Dan Bensky aptly describes this book as "an extensive, but personal integration of many strands of medicine" drawing upon the extensive study, practice and teaching of the author. Numerous and sundry constellations of points are discussed from many different angles so that practitioners of varying degrees of experience and understanding can utilize them effectively.
The first section discusses theoretical principles applied in the clinical selection of point combinations. The second section is a channel-by-channel presentation of acupoints. Each of these chapters begins with a description of the pathway and connecting pathways, relationships of the associated organs, and a description of the major functions accessed through the channel points. Visual aids are plentiful; e.g., tables of point combinations for TCM syndromes as differentiated by the most significant symptoms and signs, pulse, and tongue configurations. This information is followed by point-by-point descriptions that include both general and specific point functions. The final section is a clinical repertory for: respiratory, circulatory, locomotor, digestive, urinary, male sexual, OB/GYN, eye, ear and facial, skin, and psychological patterns. In all cases there is a discussion of significant etiologies, pathological factors and related skin disorders. Charts and diagrams are frequently used. This is followed by instructions for point selection and extensive tables of potential selections. Where there is less information generally available, the discussions are more extensive. The text is supplemented by a list of pulse qualities and an index.
Manual of Acupuncture
by Peter Deadman, Mazin Al-Khafaji
Painstakingly researched, written, and illustrated over a period of seven years, this book may well become one of the primary reference sources in the West for the study of acupuncture points and channels. The book contains chapter-length descriptions of the channels and collaterals, point categories and locations, and point selection and needling methods. In addition, it includes illustrations and text descriptions of all primary, extraordinary, divergent, luo- connecting and sinew channels, and individual and regional illustrations of the locations for each of the 14 channel and extra channel points (in English, Chinese and Pinyin). The material for each point includes practical identification of point actions, extensive lists of point indications drawn from classical and modern texts, in-depth commentaries explaining the principal historical and modern applications, and classical prescriptions that demonstrate point combination. There are extensive indexes, including one dedicated to point indications. Finally, students may wish to note that this text required reading for U.S. licensure examinations.
Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text
by Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dan Bensky (Translator), John O'Connor (Translator)
Compiled by the faculty of one of China's leading schools of traditional medicine, Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text is among the most authoritative textbooks and reference sources in its field. Since its translation into English in 1981, it has become a standard text used throughout the world.
Included are descriptions of more than a thousand acupuncture points, hundreds of prescriptions (both ancient and modern) for the treatment of numerous diseases, and detailed discussion of a variety of acupuncture techniques and modalities ranging from ear, head, hand and foot acupuncture to moxibustion, cupping and surgical techniques.
There are chapters devoted to modern research concerning acupuncture phenomena, and others which critically analyze ancient theory and methodology. The editors have also provided a lengthy introduction to the principles of traditional Chinese medicine, a select bibliography of current research published in English, and extensive indices.
Sticking to the Point: A Rational Methodology for the Step Bt Step Formulation and Administration of a TCM Acupuncture Treatment (vol. 1)
by Bob Flaws
A new, revised edition of the first book for students and practitioners which explains how to do TCM style acupuncture. This book explains in depth how to do a complex, individualized TCM pattern discrimination, how to arrange and make sense of a welter of confusing signs and symptoms, and how to think using TCM terms and statement of fact. Western students and beginning practitioners will find this book an invaluable aid in honing their ability to understand and use TCM. Although specifically about acupuncture, the method presented in this book can be used to erect a TCM treatment plan using any Chinese modality Chinese herbs, Chinese dietary therapy, tui na or Chinese massage, or qi gong, Chinese energy exercises. Included in this book are the functions of the main points of acupuncture and the functions of the main two and three point combinations.
From the Author
I wrote this book because it seemed to me that Western schools of Chinese medicine were not making the fundamental methodology of this system of medicine clear to their students. Other Western teachers seemed not to be clear on this matter themselves, while Chinese teachers either did not see why explaining this methodology was necessary or did not have the English to explain it adequately. Having explained over and over again what I thought were self- evident basic concepts to non- Chinese students around the world, I realized that this material is not self-evident and needed to be spelled out in English even if it did not need to be spelled out in the same way in Chinese. After practicing Chinese medicine for more than 20 years, my experience is that Chinese medicine is essentially a problem-solving methodology, not a bag of exotic clinical tricks. Until or unless one becomes clear about this methodology and can use it in real- life clinical practice, Western practitioners are often only practicing Western medicine using Chinese herbs and acupuncture needles. Whereas, for me, the methodology of Chinese medicine is the real thing a wish-fulfilling gem that can solve most clinical problems on an ad hoc basis no matter what the idiosyncracies and complications.
Sticking to the Point, Vol. 2: A Study of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Formulas & Strategies
by Bob Flaws, Bob Flaws
Responding to continual requests from our customers for more good information about acupuncture, this new book is the next logical step forward from Bob Flaws's successful Sticking to the Point, Vol. 1. In Volume 2, Bob Flaws presents specific acupuncture and moxibustion treatments for all the main TCM patterns. These are arranged in the same format as a TCM herbal formulas and prescriptions book. While most acupuncture clinical manuals start from the perspective of the patient's disease, this book begins with the patient's pattern discrimination. If you know the patient's pattern, then you can find an acupuncture treatment for that pattern in this book This book is based on a combination of several Chinese sources as well as Bob Flaws's own 20 years of clinical experience.
From the Author
Every day or two, some Western acupuncturist calls, faxes, or emails me always asking the same question: "How do you treat this or that disease with acupuncture?" This is always the wrong question in Chinese medicine. In professionally practiced TCM, practitioners primarily compose treatments to rebalance the patient's pattern. We do not primarily address ourselves to the treatment of named diseases. Since the pattern is the totality of the patient's signs and symptoms, constitution, lifestyle, and history, their pattern is much larger than their disease, and this is exactly what makes professionally practiced TCM the holistic medicine it is. The real question is how to treat this or that pattern. Two patients will receive the same or very similar choice of acupoints if their pattern is the same even when they have been diagnosed as having different diseases. If you treat based on disease, then you might have to know a treatment for every disease. However, if you treat on the basis of pattern, then there are far fewer treatments to remember. The issue then is how to mix and match these treatment in cases with a combination of concurrently manifesting patterns.