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Updated: Oct 21, 2025

Author Spotlight: Development of a Standardized Acupuncture Tool Inspired by Advanced Techniques for Improved Safety and Precision
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[On the acupoint and its specificity].

Bing Zhu1

  • 1Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.

Zhongguo Zhen Jiu = Chinese Acupuncture & Moxibustion
|September 7, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Acupoints, specific points used in acupuncture, are not naturally occurring but emerge in response to disease. They act as indicators and activators for the body's self-healing mechanisms when illness is present.

Keywords:
acupointacupoint sensitizationacupoint specificityextensive functionsreferred hyperesthesia

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Area of Science:

  • Traditional East Asian Medicine
  • Somatic-Visceral Relationships
  • Neuroscience of Acupuncture

Background:

  • Acupuncture, a practice with millennia of history, still presents fundamental unanswered questions.
  • The precise origin and nature of acupoints remain debated in medical science.
  • Current understanding often views acupoints as anatomical landmarks rather than dynamic entities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose a novel theory on the origin and function of acupoints.
  • To elucidate the relationship between acupoints, disease, and the body's self-healing capacity.
  • To reframe the understanding of acupoint specificity in the context of pathology.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical framework development based on historical medical practice and clinical observation.
  • Analysis of the concept of referred sensation and somatic hyperesthesia.
  • Postulation of acupoints as biologically evolved 'health codes' linked to visceral disorders.

Main Results:

  • Acupoints are proposed to originate from somatic areas that become reactive to visceral pathologies.
  • Referred hyperesthesia in somatic areas is identified as a phenomenon of acupoint sensitization.
  • Acupoints are theorized to be intrinsically linked to disease processes, acting as alarms and self-healing triggers.

Conclusions:

  • Acupoints are not present in a functional state under physiological conditions.
  • The existence and manifestation of acupoints are contingent upon the presence of disease.
  • Acupuncture's efficacy is potentially explained by its role as a 'gating-button' for self-healing mechanisms activated at acupoints.