Classifying Autonomous Nervous Functions to Replace Meridian System

What is it about?

Introduction: It is revealed by biomedical studies that the autonomous nervous system mediates most clinical effects of acupuncture/moxibustion/massage. Whereas, it is advantageous for the classical meridian system to instruct acupuncture/moxibustion/massage by classifying the various acupoints into related meridians. Purpose: It was aimed to replace the meridian system with the classification of autonomous nervous functions for acupuncture/moxibustion/massage. Methods: It was searched the relevant papers on autonomous nervous system and acupuncture/moxibustion/massage, then classified and summarized. Results and Discussions: It is classified the autonomous nervous functions into: (d) Thoracic-abdominal-back coordination, including the sympathetic/parasympathetic regulation therein, with addition o(a) Adjacent/feedback modulation, like local chronic pain, itch, inflammation, acupuncture, and so on; (b) Remote multi-point sensing coordination, including autonomous coordination to visual or acoustic attention, arousal, sleep, insomnia, yawn, remote analgesia/hiccup acupuncture, etc; (c) Dynamic coordination, either contraction or stretch, including cardiovascular coordination for arm/hand movement, and leg movement to change the intestine/urinary-bladder; (d) Thoracic-abdominal-back coordination, including the sympathetic/parasympathetic regulation therein, with addition of enteric nervous system, cardiorenal interactions, gut blood-pressure interactions, etc; (e) Emotional coordination onto sympathetic/parasympathetic system and related psychiatric diseases; (f) Environmental coordination, including temperature regulation, day/night circadian coordination, and so on. Consistently, with clinical effects and biomedical supports for acupuncture/moxibustion/massage, it is corresponded the respective acupuncture/moxibustion/massage of acupoints to the classification of autonomous nervous functions, while listed the common acupoints of clear clinical effects for demonstration. Conclusions: It recommends to use the classification of autonomous nervous functions to replace the meridian system in acupuncture/moxibustion/massage jointly for both diagnosis and treatment.

Featured Image

Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Why is it important?

To replace the meridian system with the classification of autonomous nervous functions for acupuncture/moxibustion/massage, as: (a) Adjacent/feedback modulation, like local chronic pain, itch, inflammation, acupuncture, and so on; (b) Remote multi-point sensing coordination, including autonomous coordination to visual or acoustic attention, arousal, sleep, insomnia, yawn, remote analgesia/hiccup acupuncture, etc; (c) Dynamic coordination, either contraction or stretch, including cardiovascular coordination for arm/hand movement, and leg movement to change the intestine/urinary-bladder; (d) Thoracic-abdominal-back coordination, including the sympathetic/parasympathetic regulation therein, with addition of enteric nervous system, cardiorenal interactions, gut blood-pressure interactions, etc; (e) Emotional coordination onto sympathetic/parasympathetic system and related psychiatric diseases; (f) Environmental coordination, including temperature regulation, day/night circadian coordination, and so on.

Perspectives