Japanese Acupuncture, Methods
In the Chinese approach, the patient must feel the chi. In the Japanese approach; it’s the practitioner that must feel the chi.
For a beneficial and healing effect to be achieved, the body must be offered a therapeutic stimulus in a very specific and precise way. Not only must the appropriate stimulus be offered, but it must also be accepted and processed by the individual. In the Kiiko Style, there are many different ways to provide this type of stimulus, however the most common method is the insertion of acupuncture needles into very specific body locations.
In the contemporary Chinese approach, the most common type of acupuncture needling consists of a deep insertion into the body, from anywhere between ½ to 1 inch in depth and varying to upwards of 3 inches. When the appropriate depth is found, the da chi experience is elicited, which is a distended, heavy, numb sensation occurring either directly at the needle insertion site or made to travel along precise pathways from the insertion site to a distal location.
Conversely, the Japanese approach, including the Kiiko Style, relies on a more subtle method in which the needles are inserted into the body superficially, usually between 3 to 5 mm, though some insertions do go deeper. The da chi experience, which is not necessarily painful, but is often times very intense, is not overtly sought after. From the Chinese perspective, the da chi experience is a powerful indicator for successfully offering a therapeutic stimulus to the body. The Japanese approach finds this unnecessary and relies on the direct palpation of reflections zones.
When a reflection zone is found to be reactive, either through pressure pain or some type of palpatory indication, such as tension, tightness, or fullness at the reflection zone site, the aim of needling becomes the reduction of these palpatory findings. When the needles are inserted, usually only a few millimeters, palpatory evaluation of the corresponding reflection zone must indicate that a significant change in reactive findings has occurred. This change, this release of pain or tension, is the equivalent of the da chi experiences minus the often intense sensation. It indicates the successful achievement of a therapeutic stimulus to the body. However, the release of pain or tension from an active reflection zone goes beyond this.
How is it known if a therapeutic stimulus been offered to the body and that it has been accepted by the individual and is being processed? This, through the da chi experience alone, remains unclear. However, the release of an active reflection zone gives clear evidence that not only has a therapeutic stimulus been offered, but that it has been accepted and is being processed by the individual. If not, the stimulus is either inaccurate or inexact.
The use of reflection zones to guide the progress of an acupuncture treatment allows for correction and fine tuning of the stimulus being offered to the body in order to maximize the therapeutic effect. This occurs in real time and allows corrections and refinements to be made on the spot.
When a reflection zone does not change, and there is no release in tension, pressure, or other palpatory findings, then it means either one of two things:
- The point location is wrong. Either the depth or the angle of the needle, or both, was not specific and accurate enough to activate the healing and regulating capacity of the acupuncture point.
- The diagnosis is wrong — the wrong points were chosen to release a corresponding reflection zone.
This ability to fine tune a treatment reflection zone by reflection zone, point location by point location, promotes achieving the maximum therapeutic capacity of each individual needle insertion.
