Abstract
The impact stress waves produced when a human being runs, leaps or jumps, are propagated from the foot bone to the femur and hip bone through the tibia and fibula. In this paper, we report the experimental studies on the behavior of propagation of impact stress waves in the femur and hip bone when the impact is applied to the shitsumin of an acupuncture point, or tsubo-spot, located in the sole of a foot. We analyze the behavior of the stress wave propagation in the model of femur and hip bone by means of the high speed photoelastic analysis method with the aid of a semiconductor strain gauge, and examine the existence of acupuncture point and meridian in the femur and hip bone from mechanical point of view. From our experimental results on the high speed photoelastic observation and strain-time relation, we have been able to conjecture that the meridian, or keiraku, in oriental medicine connecting the ichuu of an acupuncture point with the zakotsukon of an acupuncture point exists above the femur bone.
