Meridian and acupuncture

Meridian (Chinese Medicine) are Chinese medicine channels in which flows the vital energy Qi. According to these ideas, there are twelve main meridians.  Each meridian is associated with an organ or organ system.  On the meridians are acupuncture points. Various meridian therapies are to help patients stay healthy.

The best known is acupuncture.  TCM includes connection with a free and adequate flow of qi in the meridians.  For example, if too little qi flows, harmful qi could penetrate into the canal and there would be associated organ damage.  There is no recognized evidence of the existence of meridians outside the ideas of people who believe in them.
History and meaning of the word

Meridian are in Chinese medicine “channels”.  The healthier you are, the more that Qi flows freely and adequately.   For example, if too little Qi flows, harmful qi (Xie Qi) in the channel can penetrate and damage the associated zangfu (“Organ”).  Etymologically is in jing chain (the vertical threads in weaving) and luo shot (the horizontal threads in weaving).

According to the meridians of the earth jingluoò in France, was translated with Meridian.  The meridians of acupuncture are an important component for determining the logical Xue (“acupuncture point”, literally meaning “hole”).
Concept of meridians
Meridians of TCM are to allow a mapping and influence of institutions for the localization at points on the body surface.
Different Meridian Systems

There are a number of different meridian systems, of which only the first two (May and Jing Qi jing mai) are common in modern practice:
Jing May – 12 main meridians
Qi jing may – 8 extraordinary vessels
Jing jin
Luo May – 15 connecting channels
Jing bie 12 Special meridians
Jing shui water
The classic acupuncture points are located on the 14 channels (Shi Si Jing), which consist of the twelve major meridians (Jing May) with Conception Vessel (Ren) and Governing Vessel (Du Mai).  The other meridians cross these 14 channels at certain acupuncture points.
Main Meridians (Jing May)
When one speaks of meridians without further addition, one usually thinks of the twelve main meridians (Jing mai), which are named after the “organs” (Zangfu).

The main meridians are each a flow direction attributed to:
Yin meridians run from the toes to the tribe and the tribe to the fingers.
Yang meridians run from the fingers to the face and from face to toes.
The principal meridians shown are, according to the ideas of TCM, a circuit which over  the course of a day pass through it completely, so that each meridian in each case takes a maximum reach time of two hours.

The main meridians are present in each pair on the right and left body side and cross on the body surface never the median plane, where, in the case of the large intestine meridian, sometimes a different view is taken.
Extraordinary Vessels (qi jing mai)
The eight extraordinary vessels are often referred to as the “Oceans”, which behave much like a potential. [Qi jing mai are supposedly particularly for the treatment of structural problems (poor posture, tension, etc).  Only two of the eight extraordinary vessels, the Conception vessel (Ren mai), and the Governing vessel (Du mai) that run in the median plane of the body are assigned their own acupuncture points.

Jing jin
The Jing jin are already described in Neijing (Ling Shu, Chapter 13).  Its course is similar in the imagination of the supporters of the TCM meridians, i.e. they also run bilaterally, six each on the arms and six in the legs.  Unlike the main meridians, the Jing-jin is independent and it is attributed to the internal organs.

Certain muscles correspond to those ideas i.e. a problem in a particular channel to the associated muscles develop a functional change in tone.  When treatment is used in the Jing jin, the technique of “hot” needle Zhen Fa applies.
Connecting channels (Luo May)
The Luo Mai is 15 horizontal connecting paths, producing the links in the organ.
Special meridians (jing bie)
The jing bie are twelve divergent channels that branch out and go back to the channels. The specific meridians are to promote the relationship between the periphery and institutions, between limbs and heart and between yin meridians and the head.
Meridian Therapies

Adopted disorders of the flow of Qi in the channels are influenced by stimulation of acupuncture points.  There are several treatment methods in which meridians are to be covered:
Acupuncture – stinging
Moxibustion – heating
Acupressure – Press
Shiatsu – massage, stretching, and press
Zhen Fa (“hot” needle) – Heating and press
Cupping – suction and possibly bleeding can
Acupuncture Massage – press
Tuina – rubbing and massaging
Tapping acupressure techniques of so-called “Energy Psychology” or “psychological acupressure tapping”, each using a tapping or knocking:
Thought Field Therapy (TFT)
Mental Field Therapy (MFT)
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
Electro-acupuncture – Correction
Laser acupuncture – irradiation
Shiraku (Japanese bloodletting) – leave Bleeding
Magnetic Acupuncture – Magnetic fields raise
Farbmeridiantherapie by Christel Heidemann
Colorpuncture by Peter Mandel
Meridian also play an important role in kinesiology.
Reception

Although the exact location of the meridians and the acupuncture points in the early 90s by an international research team guided by Achim Eckert were explored, the existence of a Meridian system – in whatever form – has not been proven.  According to Colin Goldner’s ideas of traditional Chinese medicine, meridians and energy flows to this day have remained without any evidence.

Although the main meridians in the imagination of its users have been known for a long time, the essence can be named exactly.  A small percentage of all people according to their own data who have experience the puncture of a needle into a specific acupuncture point, describe the Meridian clearly.
A controversial reference to the existence of meridians outside the ideas of people who believe in them, delivered an award-planned experiment, in which a radioactive substance was injected under the skin and a substance travelled not along the nerves, veins or lymph vessels, but along a Meridian spread.

Other research has, however, shown different results, which show that the radioactive markers injected at acupuncture points in humans, are drained through veins and lymph vessels, and did not follow the meridian curves. Also, it was observed that the corresponding outflow paths could branch out.