Indications of The Channel Points

There are a total of 361 acupuncture points located on the chan-nels (? Chapter 1). Translated literally from the Chinese lan-guage, the meaning of the word for'point'is rather'opening'or 'hole'. Stimulation of the points can be achieved through massage (in acupressure) or through the insertion of needles (in acupunc-ture). Besides the regular acupuncture points, there exist a wide variety of so-called extra points, located outside the pathways of the channels. The most commonly used of these extra points are described in Chapter 6, as classified by the WHO. The acupuncture points are effective.

●locally(for example,points on the elbow treat disorders of the elbow)
●regionally(the channel pathway–for example,points on the arm treat disorders of the upper extremity)
●some points have an effect on their pertaining zangfu-Organ.
●some points have additional actions such as calming the shen or eliminating Heat.

The following table provides an overview for the general indications of the channel points(modified after Ellis and Wiseman 1991)