[Acupoint sensitization: bond of disease diagnosis and therapy]

Acupoints, as sites on the body surface accepting acupuncture stimulation, were thought to have fixed locations, and it was very important for practitioners to select the exact points in clinical practice. The theory of acupoint sensitization breaks the solidification between acupoint location and functional indications, and innovatively proposes that the structure and function of acupoints change dynamically with the states of the body and diseases. From the perspective of diagnosis, acupoint sensitization is based on the segmental innervations between somato-visceral parts in the spinal cord. Acupoint sensitization is the changes in physical and chemical properties and the release of bio-active substances in situ underlying different visceral lesions, leading to hyperaesthesia of the acupoint area. Therapeutically, clinical practices such as searching tender points (Chuai Xue) or selecting pain points (Yi Tong Wei Shu) for acupuncture stimulation highlight the functional significance of sensitized acupoints as optimal treatment sites. However, the occurrence of sensitized acupoints varies among different persons and according to different pathological conditions, which is not contradictory to the existed guidance and acupuncture theory on acupoint selection in clinical practice. This is a deep thinking and scientific recognizing of the acupoints. Based on the previous studies on acupoint sensitization in our group, this article reviewed the principle and application of acupoint sensitization, and clarified the bond between the diagnosis and the therapeutics of visceral disorders via a profound exploration from the phenomenon to the essence.