The Committee for the Meridian Point (Chairman, Kansho Yamada) focused on the significance of “the Meridian denial theory” which Hirohisa Yoneyama announced in 1952. Pros and cons emerged, and the so-called “Meridian controversy” raged for about two years. Documents relating to this controversy along with basic research on the meridian and the meridian point during the period were collected, arranged, examined, and presented at Workshop i of the 51st Annual Meeting of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion which was held in Tsukuba in June 2002. This is a condensed version of the reports.

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[Objective] This study examined the effect of press tack needle (PTN) treatment onshoulder stiffness.
[Method] A total of 53 volunteers with shoulder stiffness were randomly divided into 2 groups, the press tack needlegroup and placebo (P) group. The points stimulated by PTN or P were a maximum of 4 tender points around the shoulder treated for 3 days. Evaluation of the effect was based on the consciousness of shoulder stiffness and visual analog scale (VAS) estimating the grade of the shoulder stiffness. The evaluations were done in prior to treatment (Pr), immediately after treatment (Post 1), and 3 days after treatment (Post 2).
[Result] As a result, the number of the volunteers reporting awareness of stiff shoulder after 3 days decreased to 12 of28 persons in the PTN group, 23 of 25 in the P group. There was a significant difference between the 2 groups (p<0.01). The VAS value decreased in the PTN group from 52.5±20.7 (Pr) to 40.5±22.4 (Post1), to 342±19.7 (Post2), while in the P group from 55.2±17.5 (Pr) to 46.5±19.7 (Post1) to 45.9±21.7 (Post2). There were significant differences between Pr and Post1 (p<0.05), and between Pr and Post2 (p<0.01) in PTN group.
[Conclusion] It was suggested that PTN stimulation on the tender points improved shoulder stiffness.

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Recently, the importance of patient satisfaction emerged in the context of providing high-quality health care. However, the level of patient satisfaction with acupuncture treatment and the factors that influence satisfaction have not been investigated. We conducted a cross-sectional survey on the satisfaction of patients who consult acupuncture clinics and investigated factors that have a certain influence on the level of satisfaction using multivariate analysis.
Subjects in the present study consisted of 2210 patients who consulted acupuncture clinics that were randomly selected from the alumni association of Meiji University of Oriental Medicine. The survey was conducted between July 10 through July 23, 2000 using our original questionnaire which consists of questions about health state and basic information about the patient, environment of the clinic, assessment of the practitioner by the patient and overall patient satisfaction with the clinic. Sampling of the subject was made using stratified random sampling method and the questionnaires were returned directly from the patient by mail.
Of 2210 patients given the questionnaire, 1, 319 (59.7%) responded. Mean (SD) level of the total satisfaction with the clinic evaluated using 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) was 81.4 (13.8). Simple linear regression analysis showed that the degree of explanation given by the practitioner was significantly related to patient satisfaction, while multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of treatment, treatment skill of the practitioner, patient's reliance on the practitioner, clean environment of the consultation room, depth of the practitioner's understanding of the patient and willingness of the practitioner to answer questions were factors significantly related with the patient's satisfaction.
In the present study, there was high overall satisfaction among patients consulting acupuncture clinics and the factors influencing satisfaction could be classified into three kinds : factors relating to the quality of treatment, communication factors between the patient and practitioner, and environmental factors related to the clinic.

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It is well known that the concept underlying oriental medicine is to approach the living body as a microcosm. The model currently used shows that all five basic elements are interrelated. Because only relative directions between the five basic elements are shown, these diagrams can not describe the whole. However, complex systems of the control theory in engineering using the current model remain complicated.In this study, we designed a new model to synthetically interpret the relations among the five basic elements that are used in complex systems. As a result, the new model can describe drastic changes in the creative cycle and the destructive cycle. Furthermore, the model can faithfully express whole changes of the five basic elements and simultaneously describe the relation of the creative cycle and the relation of the destructive cycle. It is suggested that the use of this new basic model may help explain the disease model and treatment theory.

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The fifty first academic meeting of the Japan Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was held this year. Atthis time, the number of members has increased, and now exceeds 2, 900 people. Quality and quantity have changed greatly, and the academic meeting expands.
How are members affected by the change and expansion of such an academic meeting? Moreover, does an academic meeting or the relations among members affect the activities of various academic meetings, and can those activities be maintained?
This time, a membership survey was carried out focusing on the critical issues cited above. The survey for the year 2001 was mailed to all academic meeting staff in November-December. The response rate was 21.5% of 632 questionnaires sent This survey is the foundation material from which the future of our academic society will be considered.
The following survey results are presented. 1) Members over 50 years old comprised 45.8% reflecting a tendency toward an older membership. 2) As for the members' professional qualifications, “Acupuncturist” comprised 88.9%. Other designations such as “Annma-Massage-Acupressure therapist” comprised 40%. 3) Members working as “acupuncture moxibustion mentors” comprised 61.3%. This was thought to influence a motive for participatingin academic meetings, the degree of satisfaction with the academic meeting, their relationship with the academic society and research reports they would expect on the journal 4) Evaluation of the general usefulness of the authorization system (qualified acupuncturist) varies. The significance of this system needs to be discussed.

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[in Japanese]

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