To stay with the obvious, herbs enter the body via the digestive system, where they are absorbed into the bloodstream and get to act directly on the Blood. Acupuncture, I think it is safe to say, more readily (and quickly) influences the Qi and Fluids... which surely are not separate from the Blood. But it could take a while to repattern the Blood 'indirectly,' via acupuncture.
And meanwhile the person receiving acupuncture will be eating three or so meals a day... Meal by meal, day by day, diet is going to have a strong cumulative effect on the Blood and its ability to move. Depending on the diet, this effect could be synergistic with the acupuncture, helping to quicken the blood, or the diet could be stagnating and counteracting. That's pretty common. And I wonder if acupuncture can have much effect in that context.
These are my musings after reading your piece, which I printed because these points do seem like the best options available when acupuncture is the method of approach.
Wú Kūn mentions this in the fifth subsection - I didn't put this in the post:
然針不難瀉實，而難補虛，一遇尫羸，非飲之甘藥不可。是針之補，不如藥之長也。
"Although with acupuncture it is not difficult to drain repletion, and it is difficult to supplement vacuity, so if treating the lame and weak they must not avoid taking sweet medicinals. It is true that acupuncture supplementation is inferior to long-term [taking of] medicinals."
My own take on this - after many years of practicing acupuncture in a style based on tonification/supplementation - is that, in general, needling exerts a lot of its effects through 通 tōng: freeing, opening, communicating, however you want to translate it. In lay physiological terms, it relaxes tissue, shrinks swelling, increases circulation, promotes flow etc. It also can increase tone, in my experience, stopping bleeding and diarrhea and so forth, which may be due to autonomic effects, I am not exactly sure. I have had plenty of patients come back with improved lab values in endocrine tests and such like, when the acupuncture was the only intervention, though again that might be more due to improvements in microcirculation, membrane permeability, etc.
Moxibustion, especially direct moxibustion, has been shown to promote changes in blood chemistry, which is consistent with its traditional reputation for building blood. Junji Mizutani has written a lot about this in North American Journal of Oriental Medicine over the years.
Your point about diet is well taken; a lot of the Japanese practitioners I observed would give homework to their patients, often moxibustion. If the patient is able to administer moxa at home on a daily basis - or even a practice like eight-day moxibustion each month - I would expect that the outcomes would be much better than simply getting needled once a week.
Thanks for your response. As someone perhaps relying on herbs where acupuncture would be better, this was really helpful to read:
"...in general, needling exerts a lot of its effects through 通 tōng: freeing, opening, communicating, however you want to translate it. In lay physiological terms, it relaxes tissue, shrinks swelling, increases circulation, promotes flow etc. It also can increase tone, in my experience, stopping bleeding and diarrhea and so forth..."
I think of acupuncture's tonifying effect as a result of its ability to exert this 'freeing & opening' influence. Like when the Blood is not fully irrigating and suppling and nourishing the whole body, due to stagnation. Someone may have enough juice, but if it's blocked from getting where it needs to, that's a lot like not having enough juice. So in such a case, freeing up the blockage can result in more nourishment. Tonification through better circulation, if you will.
But yes, as someone who has maybe been relying too heavily on herbs to do everything, it's helpful to remember the strengths of acupuncture, and how they can translate to, for example, helping to increase muscle tone (a lot faster, or more fully, than otherwise would happen).
And then there's moxa! It really is something special! Circulating, warming, transforming (of dampness), all-in-all Blood-building. And more, I'm sure. Interestingly, moxa as a method is quite much where acupuncture and herbs meet: burning mugwort on just the right points. The best of both worlds, yet altogether different... neat stuff.
To stay with the obvious, herbs enter the body via the digestive system, where they are absorbed into the bloodstream and get to act directly on the Blood. Acupuncture, I think it is safe to say, more readily (and quickly) influences the Qi and Fluids... which surely are not separate from the Blood. But it could take a while to repattern the Blood 'indirectly,' via acupuncture.
And meanwhile the person receiving acupuncture will be eating three or so meals a day... Meal by meal, day by day, diet is going to have a strong cumulative effect on the Blood and its ability to move. Depending on the diet, this effect could be synergistic with the acupuncture, helping to quicken the blood, or the diet could be stagnating and counteracting. That's pretty common. And I wonder if acupuncture can have much effect in that context.
These are my musings after reading your piece, which I printed because these points do seem like the best options available when acupuncture is the method of approach.
As always, thanks for sharing your findings!
Hi Dan,
Thank you for your comment, I enjoyed reading it.
Wú Kūn mentions this in the fifth subsection - I didn't put this in the post:
然針不難瀉實，而難補虛，一遇尫羸，非飲之甘藥不可。是針之補，不如藥之長也。
"Although with acupuncture it is not difficult to drain repletion, and it is difficult to supplement vacuity, so if treating the lame and weak they must not avoid taking sweet medicinals. It is true that acupuncture supplementation is inferior to long-term [taking of] medicinals."
My own take on this - after many years of practicing acupuncture in a style based on tonification/supplementation - is that, in general, needling exerts a lot of its effects through 通 tōng: freeing, opening, communicating, however you want to translate it. In lay physiological terms, it relaxes tissue, shrinks swelling, increases circulation, promotes flow etc. It also can increase tone, in my experience, stopping bleeding and diarrhea and so forth, which may be due to autonomic effects, I am not exactly sure. I have had plenty of patients come back with improved lab values in endocrine tests and such like, when the acupuncture was the only intervention, though again that might be more due to improvements in microcirculation, membrane permeability, etc.
Moxibustion, especially direct moxibustion, has been shown to promote changes in blood chemistry, which is consistent with its traditional reputation for building blood. Junji Mizutani has written a lot about this in North American Journal of Oriental Medicine over the years.
Your point about diet is well taken; a lot of the Japanese practitioners I observed would give homework to their patients, often moxibustion. If the patient is able to administer moxa at home on a daily basis - or even a practice like eight-day moxibustion each month - I would expect that the outcomes would be much better than simply getting needled once a week.
Thanks again for reading, and for your comment!
Thanks for your response. As someone perhaps relying on herbs where acupuncture would be better, this was really helpful to read:
"...in general, needling exerts a lot of its effects through 通 tōng: freeing, opening, communicating, however you want to translate it. In lay physiological terms, it relaxes tissue, shrinks swelling, increases circulation, promotes flow etc. It also can increase tone, in my experience, stopping bleeding and diarrhea and so forth..."
I think of acupuncture's tonifying effect as a result of its ability to exert this 'freeing & opening' influence. Like when the Blood is not fully irrigating and suppling and nourishing the whole body, due to stagnation. Someone may have enough juice, but if it's blocked from getting where it needs to, that's a lot like not having enough juice. So in such a case, freeing up the blockage can result in more nourishment. Tonification through better circulation, if you will.
But yes, as someone who has maybe been relying too heavily on herbs to do everything, it's helpful to remember the strengths of acupuncture, and how they can translate to, for example, helping to increase muscle tone (a lot faster, or more fully, than otherwise would happen).
And then there's moxa! It really is something special! Circulating, warming, transforming (of dampness), all-in-all Blood-building. And more, I'm sure. Interestingly, moxa as a method is quite much where acupuncture and herbs meet: burning mugwort on just the right points. The best of both worlds, yet altogether different... neat stuff.
More moxa, less problems. Except for the smoke.