Shiatsudo Blog

So I found rootdown.us recently which is an on-line community for acupuncture and TCM.

While browsing through their site, the AcuMapper caught my attention; basically, this looks like google maps plopped onto a human body to map out the meridians and acupuncture points on the body. It is a work in progress, but still, pretty damn cool.

So now we have a really nice interactive map of the meridians and acupuncture points. Clicking each point obviously brings up the point name and anatomical location description. You can turn off the acupuncture points so you can just view the meridian lines (handy for shiatsu people since we tend to focus more on the meridian as a whole than on individual points). You can also view the body at various levels (skin, muscle, skeleton or combines muscle and skeleton etc).

And they have the ability to embed the maps into your own web pages - check it out:

Great use of internet technology! Hope some of you find it interesting/useful.

Tags:acupuncture points, meridian diagram

I’ve pilfered and rather viciously precis’d this from Yahoo news

Apparently, some researchers at the University of Haifa have been looking into the effects of the reishi mushroom on prostate cancer. So far it is in early stages (ie petri dish experiments), but still, every little helps. Reishi mushrooms are used in a fair number of TCM formulas and are highly regarded for their ability to nourish the Shen or spirit.

Tags:prostate cancer, reishi

Here are 10 sites about Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture that I tend to visit regularly…

Acupuncture.com - A TCM and acupuncture super-site with information for the layman, practitioner and student. For the layman, there are answers to the most basic of questions like “what is acupuncture” through to more advanced topics about why your acupuncturist examines your tongue. It has a great section on various different conditions and how TCM and acupuncture would approach treating these, as well as some info on personal practices like qigong and yoga. For the practitioner, a library of syndromes, with some suggested formulas, sections on practice building and further education. For students, book reviews, a reference library and links to acupuncture schools. All in all, a site packed with information. This should be your first stop.

Acuxo.com - The best online site to find acupuncture points. The interface is self explanatory - select a meridian, select one of the points on the meridian and Acuxo displays a picture of the point, a picture of the whole meridian and then all the information about the point - Chinese name, descriptive anatomical location and point functions. There’s also a function whereby you can select syndromes and see the acupoints that can be used for the syndrome.

Acupuncturetoday.com - A site for the Acupuncture Today journal, but with a large amount of articles on-line for free. Basically a news source for acupuncture. Another large site with a lot of information and articles on it. It has a good section on the “ABCs of TCM and Acupuncture” which goes through much of the basic theory, explaining things like Yin Yang theory, pulse diagnosis, the ideas of Qi, Jing and Shen and lots more. Most important though are the news articles.

Jabinet.net - This one is a bit different - Robert Hayden is an acupuncturist who specialises in Japanese acupuncture. His pages here have some interesting information on the Japanese style and how it differs from Chinese acupuncture. He also has some great information on fukusho or abdominal diagnosis/palpation which is used a lot in Japanese acupuncture and is the basis of hara diagnosis used in shiatsu. There is also a great article on “Live Point Location” - the idea being that acupuncture points are not simply anatomical landmarks, but actually manifestations of conditions in the body. So acupuncture points only become “live” when associated pathologies are present. Well worth investigating, despite the site’s very basic design and layout.

Gancao.net - Gancao is great to visit because of the well categorised section of “Aculinks” (a database of links to other acupuncture and related sites). Gancao also hosts some forums with some good case histories presented.

Sacredlotus.com - This has everything for the student of TCM; basic theory, 8 principles, zhang fu, diagnosis methods, meridian channel theory, acupuncture point descriptions and actions and a herb database. Good layout and a vast database of knowledge make this indispensable reading for any serious student of acupuncture and TCM.

YinYangHouse.com - Another good resource site with helpful information on different types of treatments. The site has some nice articles in their “Basics” section which answer questions like “why should I see an acupuncturist” and “why should I see a bodyworker”, going on to explain what conditions are treated and what styles exist (for example in the bodywork section, they explain a little about shiatsu, tuina, craniosacral, rolfing etc).

HarmonyMedical.co.uk - Online acupuncture supplies in the UK. From needles and moxa to cups and sharps boxes.

Acumedic.com - Another online shop in the UK. Acumedic has a huge selection of acupuncture, TCM and complementary health related books as well as herbs, needles and teas.

JCM.co.uk - The Journal of Chinese Medicine was established by Peter Deadman who wrote “A Manual of Acupuncture” and the related Point Cards. You can subscribe to the journal on the website, order past articles and browse through their online store selling some fine green teas, acupuncture books and needles and herbs.

Tags:Acupuncture & TCM, TCM, websites