Cun is the standard unit of measurement of the body used in acupuncture. As every human body is unique in its dimensions, cun is defined according to the person whose body is being treated. Like one centimeter is divided into ten millimeters, one cun is divided into ten fen.
1 cun = width of thumb, in the middle, at the crease. 3 cun= combined breadth of the four fingers, at the level of the pinky fingers’ first joint above the palm of the hand. 10 fen = 1 cun
The ability to locate acupuncture points with qi (or energy) awareness requires calm relaxation, (meditation), and attention (focused awareness).
Sensing Qi:
1. Calm yourself, breathe slowly and deeply until a state of deep relaxation and peace is reached.
2. Close your eyes. Relax the mind and body. Hold your hands apart in front of you, palms facing each other. Move your palms toward each other, sensing the space between. Focus on the space between your hands. Abide in calm awareness – sensing. For each person the sensation of qi energy will be unique. Some describe the sensation as a pressure, pulling, tingling, heat, or coolness.
3. Sensing meridians: Hold your finger two inches above the body surface near a meridian. Move your finger perpendicular back and forth across the meridian area (like plucking a guitar string). Feathers are useful tools to sense energy. Hold the feather above the meridian and move it back and forth. Open yourself to the sensation of the subtle energy. If you find your hands getting tense, shake your hands for a few seconds to release any excess qi that may have accumulated at your fingertips.
4. Sensing Acupuncture Points: Using cun measurements, and acupuncture point diagrams, roughly locate a particular acupuncture point. In a state of non-expectation with open calm awareness, point your finger at the acupuncture point approximately two inches away from the surface of the skin. Move your finger slowly back and forth in a diameter of a couple inches. The place where you feel the strongest sensation is the center of the point.
Small hand-held devices, called electrical acupuncture point locators, utilize the electrical resistance near the skin at the points to indicate the correct location of an acupuncture point. An electric acupoint locator can greatly assist in finding particular acupuncture points, however because the body contains over 2000 acupuncture points, the use of an electric acupoint locator is best reserved for reading the difference in electrical resistance in a small radius at a defined location where a major acupuncture point is believed to be located on the body.
There is no one single documented method of inducing the uterus to empty its contents with acupuncture. Each individual is unique and would require a unique approach; a trained TCM acupuncturist’s assistance is vital. The following are examples of documented acupuncture methods used to induce menstruation, abortion, or full term labor:
• One method suggests the use of four acupuncture points once daily for two to three days: LI4 is mildly stimulated. SP6 is strongly stimulated where the needle is directed slightly upwards so a sensation extends into the lower abdomen. GV1 is inserted to a depth of three fen and the needle is directed upwards so that a sensation is felt in the sacrum. SP9 is directed upwards so a sensation is felt in the lower abdomen. LI4 and SP6 are considered the principal points, while GV1 and SP9 are supplementary, and the principal and supplementary points are used in rotation.[483]
• Another method of inducing abortion with acupuncture is the combined acupuncture of LI4, LR3, SP6, BL67, and BL54 using the reducing method which includes: quick insertion of the needle tip against the direction of the channel at the moment of exhalation, then strongly lifting, softly thrusting, and rapidly rotating the needle clockwise six times, and then slow withdrawal of the needle without pressing on the point afterwards. Sometimes electrical stimulation is used.[484]
• One point specifically used to terminate pregnancy, Jueyun, is named after its function. Jueyun is located two cun and three fen below the umbilicus. Using acupuncture needling on this point is believed to bring about induced infertility. This point, when used with moxa, is used to induce labor at term.[485]
• Rina Nissim, founder of the women’s health center in Geneva, Switzerland and author of Natural Healing in Gynecology, documents her use of acupuncture stimulation in combination with emmenagogual herbs and abortive massage to induce menstruation up to ten days past missed menses. Acupuncture needles are inserted at SP6 and LI4 for thirty minutes (rotated clockwise every two minutes until they jam).[486]
• Andrew Orr worked in Guangxi, China and observed labor induction via daily acupuncture stimulation for three hours with an electro muscle stimulator at 3Hz. Orr, later an acupuncturist at the Natural Birthing Center at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, utilized acupuncture points LI4, SP6, GB21, and KI6 to induce labor in women whose pregnancies were at 40 weeks and over. First, the needles were stimulated by hand rotation, and then the needles were attached to electro stimulation for 1.5 hours at 1.5 Hz. Labor was induced in 88% of cases after the first treatment. The time frame for the beginning of labor after the treatment varied from 2 ½ to 26 hours.[487]
• Acupressure of the points that are used in acupuncture to induce miscarriage are also used by some women to help bring on menstruation. Jeanne Elizabeth Blum in Woman Heal Thyself documents a detailed regime to stimulate menstruation including strong acupressure massage of LI4, SP6, SP1, SP2, SP4, SP9, ST36, KI1, KI6, and GB41.[488]
Words to the Wise: Acupuncture treatment is intimately designed for the individual. Seeking the advice, assistance, and support of a trained acupuncture specialist is advised. Acupuncture is a medicinal art which takes years of study and practice to become proficient. An acupuncturist will often look at the tongue and ask a patient many questions to help determine the extent of yin and yang balance within the body, as an imbalance of yin or yang will cause the qi to move in opposite directions when an acupuncture point is stimulated.
To induce an abortion using acupuncture, strong needling and stimulation is usually necessary, for utilizing forbidden acupuncture points with prudence during pregnancy has been found to be safe and non abortive.[489] It is believed by some that causing an abortion with acupuncture is more related to the degree of stimulation to the point than the selection of the appropriate point.[490] All of the examples of acupuncture methods documented above include the retention of the needles for durations ten to sixty times longer than the normal duration of only three to seven exhalations, and often include manually stimulation by turning the needles and/or electrical stimulation.
Acupuncture complications are rare in the hands of a skilled practitioner. However they do occur; the most common problems being bruised skin at acupuncture point, pain, burns, bleeding, and contact dermatitis.[491] A very rare complication is an acupuncture needle breaking off in the skin. This requires removal with pliers or emergency surgery.
483
J. Occonnar and D. Besky,
484
Giovanni Maciocia,
486
Rina Nissim,
487
Andrew Orr, “Natural Induction Using Acupuncture-My research” Earth Mama’s Web, http://www.earthmamasweb.com/articles/pregnancy/induct.html (accessed March 20, 2007).
489
T. Ots and C. Schulte-Uebbing, “Should Certain Acupuncture Points not be Punctured during Pregnancy?”
490
R.A. Dale, “The Contraindicated (forbidden) Points of Acupuncture for Needling, Moxibustion and Pregnancy.”
491
A.J. Norheim, “Adverse Effects of Acupuncture: A Study of the Literature for the Years 1981-1994.”