8: Introduction to the Practical Application of the Integrative Neuromuscular Acupoint System

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CHAPTER 8 Introduction to the Practical Application of the Integrative Neuromuscular Acupoint System

This chapter reviews the most important concepts for successful acupuncture therapy.

THE FOUR PRELIMINARY CLINICAL PROCEDURES

1. A practitioner must be familiar with the complete picture of each patient’s medical history, lifestyle, current situation, and the signs and symptoms of their problem.
2. A practitioner should understand the nature of each patient’s complaint to the fullest extent possible. For example, if a patient presents with lower back pain, a practitioner will expect different treatment results, depending on whether the pain is related to muscle strain, a herniated disk, radiculopathy, spinal stenosis, referred pain from other problems, or infection of the spinal nerves. Information from the patient’s physician can be helpful.
3. A practitioner must objectively evaluate each patient’s self-healing potential. This evaluation will help the practitioner to understand whether a patient will be an excellent responder, an average responder, or a nonresponder. With our quantitative acupuncture evaluation method (QAE) (see Chapter 6), this information can be obtained reliably in a short time.
4. Finally, a practitioner must use the Integrative Neuromuscular Acupoint System (INMAS). INMAS includes three types of acupoints: homeostatic acupoints (HAs), symptomatic acupoints (SAs), and paravertebral acupoints (PAs). There are 24 HAs, and these form a standardized protocol that can be easily applied. Selection of the most effective SAs requires a practitioner to have a reasonable understanding of the nature of a patient’s symptom(s) and its relation to the anatomic structure and biomechanics of the human body. Once the SAs are selected, the PAs can be easily determined according to the principles of spinal segmentation: dermatome (skin) and myotome (muscle) distribution.

QUANTITATIVE ACUPUNCTURE EVALUATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF PATIENTS

Different patients will have different responses to the same acupuncture treatment. The method of QAE allows practitioners to predict the efficacy, duration, and prognosis of the treatment for each patient.

The degree of homeostasis of each patient represents his or her individual self-healing potential. Any pathologic insult or disease tends to reduce the self-healing potential, impair homeostasis, and transform latent (nonsensitive) HAs into passive (tender) HAs. The number of HAs reflects the body’s ability to repair the damage caused by pathologic symptoms. Thus, the number of tender HAs is the result of the interaction between the self-healing potential and pathologic condition of the patient.

After examining a patient, the practitioner should be able to know:

• To which one of the four groups (A, B, C, and D) the patient can be classified according to the number of passive (tender) HAs found (i.e., whether the patient will respond to the treatment and what kind of response can be expected: excellent, good, average or no response).
• The number of treatments the patient needs.
• The possible time lapse before recurrence of the same pain.

Chapter 6 provides the technical details of how to quantitatively evaluate a patient.

INTERACTION BETWEEN THE NEURO-, IMMUNE, ENDOCRINE, AND CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS

Please refer to Chapters 3 and 4 for an explanation of the peripheral and central mechanisms of acupuncture therapy.

The Nervous System and Endocrine System: Endorphin Release

Acupuncture needling stimulates the peripheral nerves, resulting in the synthesis and release of endorphins by the central nervous system. The term endorphin was coined by combining the words “endogenous” and “morphine.” Endorphins are a group of opiate-like peptides produced naturally by the body in the spinal cord and brain, where they modulate the transmission of pain signals to reduce the perception of pain by raising the pain threshold. In addition, endorphins work on other body systems, relaxing the cardiovascular system, improving the activity of the immune system, and modifying the endocrine system. All these effects make the patient feel relaxed and speed up the self-healing process.

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