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.