Physical therapy, such as pricking and heating the skin or subcutaneous tissue and so on, began in the primitive ages in the East and West, and has a long tradition till today. It had developed and systematized about two thousand years ago in China so that acupuncture and moxibustion were administered on meridians and therapeutic points on body surface. The original textbook is the Nei Ching, or the classic of internal medicine, traditionally ascrived to the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti).
The system of Oriental medicine is that every syndrome is diagnosed and determined by inspection, question, auscultation and palpation. We detect changes of meridian (Kei-raku in Japanese) and therapeutic points (Kei-ketsu in Japanese) using the above mentioned diagnostic methods. It is most important to palpate meridian and points. Consequently, we try acupuncture and moxibustion on the meridian and points, control the body reactions and treat illness.
There are fourteen meridians on human body surface in which Ki (energy) and Ketsu (humor) flow. The flow of energy and humor are the origin of life phenomenon and illness occurs when energy and humor increase, decrease or decay. Meridians are the line of energy circulation in Oriental medicine which correspond to the circulation of blood or function of nervous system in Western medicine.
Therapeutic points on all the body amount to about 660, distribute on meridians and clinically observed as tenderness, pain by pinching, induration, pulsation, chill or hotness, hyper or hyposensitiveness, and muscle strain or relaxation.
The stimulation on the therapeutic points improves unusual meridian state because the points are diagnostic and simultaneously therapeutic points.
At first, the author carried out a study of pain threshold of the skin to clarify rationality of using excoriation or tenderness to detect therapeutic points. Further, thermography and threshold determination by Hardy's Pain Meter were used. After that the author carried out an experimental investigation with plethysmography on meridian and therapeutic points from the viewpoint of subcutaneous circulation. A working hypothesis was postulated that meridian and points correspond to a reactive system which correlates to nervous and circulatory systems in human body. Accordingly, the author would like to prove the existence of meridian and point objectively. The following is the result of the experiments.
1. The distribution of pain threshold of the skin, meridian and point.
In the first place, the author divided the surface of trunk in five adult males in one centimeter square plots. The number of plot is about 2000 (from 41 to 49 rows, 25 columns) per one person from 7th certical process to the horizontal line of iliac crest (back) and from the horizontal line below clavicle to the horizontal line of iliac spine (front). Secondly, I measured pain threshold on all the plots and observed the dorso-lumbar and thoraco-abdominal distributions. Moreover, I measured it on four usual therapeutic points in daily use and those non-therapeutic points on extremities for control. Thirdly, I checked meridian and points on the distribution table by anatomical sites, for example nabel, mamilla, sternum, scapula, spinal process and etc., Forthly, I determined skin temperature using thermography.
(1) The type of the distribution of pain threshold in thoraco-abdominal and dorso-lumbar regions were the same and symmetrical in both side. The distributions are nearly normal in type and the range of threshold is narrow because of small standard deviation. Characteristic is that thoraco-abdiminal region shows low threshold portions on the sternal part, the place of Rectus Abdominis, and hypocondrium, and dorso-lumbar region shows high threshold on scapular regions, vertebral column between both scapulae, and lumbar vertebral column regions.
(2) On the viewpoint of pain threshold distribution, there are longitudinal patterns

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The autonomic nerve reflex holds a major key to both the understanding of the therapeutic mechanism observed in the acupuncture clinical situation in which therapy involves the body periphery, and in meridian study.
In recent years research concerning the physical-autonomic nerve reflex has advanced and the nerve mechanism of the peripheral-siceral reflex of the heart, stomach, small intestine, bladder, etc. in such animals as rats and cats has been made clear.
Using the change in number of heartbeats as a guide, I examined the peripheral-cardiac reflex in human beings and found that pain stimuli repeated 3 times at 14 locations on the body resulted in 3 individuals in a peripheral-cardiac reflex manifested by an increase in the number of heartbeats 61 of 84 times.
Also in 32 healthy adult males and females observations concerning the peripheral-cardiac reflex when pain stimulation, acupuncture stimulation and moxibustion stimulation were attempted showed that with acupuncture stimulation in a particular, a reaction opposite to that observed with pain stimulation, that is a reduction in the number of heartbeats was observed.

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反復性 (習慣性) 扁桃炎の再発予防を目的とし, 鍼電極による低周波通電を行った。
研究対象は, 幼稚園・小学生を中心として年4回以上の発熱頻度を呈する83例である。
治療方法は, 合谷と孔最をそれぞれ結び, 1Hzで20分から30分通電した。
治療間隔は, 週1回で3週間を1クールとし経過に応じて再治療を行った。
効果の判定は, 鍼治療後1年間観察した。
その結果83例中6例は経過の観察ができなかった。残り77例のうち9例 (11.7%) は1年間発熱をまったくおこさなかった。49例 (63.6%) は発熱頻度が減少した。また77例のうち39例 (50.6%) は発熱頻度が年3回以下になった。13例は無効であり, 6例は鍼治療後扁桃摘出を行った。
学校保健統計による扁桃肥大の年減少率と比較しても, 鍼による再発予防効果を考察し得る成績であり, 一般化および患者への負担の少ない治療法であることから, 反復性扁桃炎の予防として, 鍼がファーストチョイスされる可能性が高いと考える。

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We assessed the Master's single two-step test, postural blood pressure reflex, and autonomic nervous system manifestation in 112 essential hypertension patients and evaluated the results of low-frequency electroacupuncture therapy in 32 patients who exhibited the pressor type of diastolic blood pressure response to exercise.
The following conclusions were drawn from the results.
1. The diastolic blood pressure response to exercise was the pressor type in 60 patients (54%) and the depressor type in 52 patients (46%). By catagory, it was the pressor type in 40 (56%) of the 72 patients in the group taking antihypertensive drugs, and the depressor type in 32 (44%). In the group of 38 patients taking diuretics, it was the pressor type in 20 patients (53%). In the group of 40 patients not taking autihypertensive drugs, 20 patients each displayed the pressor-type response and the depressor-type response.
2. The group with a pressor diastolic blood pressure response to exercise had higher systolic pressure when seated at rest than the depressor group, and the extent of the rise in systolic pressure in response to the exercise load was greater. The extent of the decrease in systolic blood pressure immediately after standing up in the postural blood pressure response test was less than in the depressor group.
3. The incidences of edema of the lower extremities, coldness of the lower extremities, and other autonomic nervous system symptoms were higher in the group with the pressor diastolic blood pressure response to exercise than in the depressor group.
4. The results of low-frequency electroacupuncture therapy on the 32 patients in the group with the pressor diastolic blood pressure response to exercise showed a depressor diastolic pressure response to exercise in 23 of the patients (72%). The period of treatment until the transition to the decreased pressure period was 5.5 months. While no improvement in the extent of the rise in systolic pressure in response to exercise was observed in the depressor stage, an increase in the extent of the decrease in systolic blood pressure immediately after standing up was observed in the postural blood pressure response test.
From on the above results, it was found that some patients with pre-hypertension and mild hypertension showed the diastolic pressure response to the Master's single two step test that differed (in pressor type) from that of healthy subjects. In particular, it was shown that the blood pressure of some patients taking antihypertensive agents whose blood pressure was always within the normal range exhibited blood pressure responses to exercise that differed from those of healthy subjects. It was also found that 1-Hz, 10-minute low-frequency electroacupuncture therapy applied to the posterior surface of the leg (tibialis posterior muscle) is effective in normalizing the diastolic blood pressure response (shifting to the depressor type) to the Master's single two-step test in patients who displayed a pressor-type diastolic blood pressure response to exercise.

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We investigated the actual condition of patients treated by acupuncture and moxibution in Ibaraki Prefecture.
Subjects were 1823 patients (846 men, 977 women) under the treatment of 14 acupunctue clinics in September to November, 1985.
We prepared the evaluated list that consisted of 11 levels of activities of daily life and 8 degrees of pain.
In every treatment, we wrote down the patients' clinical progress in relation with the list.
The information on the patients undergoing treatment in acupuncture was compared with the date of the National Health Survey, 1984 on patients with bone and muscle diseases.
The following results were obtained.
1. Most of the acupuncture patients were in the mid 30s to the mid 60s, and their age was lower than the patients under National Health Survey.
2. There were more acupuncture patients who received only one treatment compared with the National Health Survey treatment.
3. The chief complaints of acupuncture patients were low back pains (509 patients), shoulder discomfort (273), knee joint pain (132), etc.
4. Most of the acupuncture patients could go with their daily lives in spite of the pains.
5. The effects of acupuncture treatment were rated as follows: better 69.5%, no change 23.9%, worse 5.9%

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Electro-nerve stimulation is an Electro Acupuncture (EA) method that is clinically applied to treat periphral neuropathy. We examined the effects of electro-nerve stimulation on the Sensory Nerve Conduction Velocity (SCV). The changes in SCV caused by applying electro-nerve stimulation to the peripheral nerves were measured.
Al-Hz EAT was applied for 10min to the right upper arms of healthy adult volunteers (n=12). The SCV in the median nerve and the skin temperature of the forearm were measured before and after the application. The SCV and skin temperature were found to exhibit asignificant decrease after the electricity was turned on. Therefore, we concluded that EAT caused the decrease in skin temperature of the forearm and, as a result, lowered the SCV in the median nerve.

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The largest percentage of patients receiving acupuncture treatment in Japan are those with chronic aches. Aches are major factors of QOL, and the pain-killing effect of acupuncture treatment has a large clinical significance. In the study, therefore, we expressed the QOL of the patients who received acupuncture treatment as scores using SF-36 and then examined the effect of acupuncture treatment on improving the QOL. Each score of SF-36 was rated from 0 to 100, where higher points represent better states of health.
The study was conducted on 60 patients who received acupuncture treatment in our facility from Oct. 2002 to Jan. 2003.
All scores before the start of treatment were low, and all score fell below the national standard value. Physical functions (PF), bodily pain (BP), and generally view of healthiness (GH) of the physical component summary (PCS) and vitality (VT) of mental component summary (MCS) showed particularly low scores relative to other scores. Comparison of scores before the start of treatment with those 1 month after the treatment revealed that BP among the eight sub-scales was improved significantly (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results suggest that receiving acupuncture treatment can contribute to improving a patient's QOL.

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