R Prolonged Plum Pit Qi

BLUE POPPY PRESS RECENT RESEARCH REPORT # 348
Body Acupuncture & Network Vessel Puncture

for Prolonged Plum Pit Qi
by then indicate the usage of special acupuncture

Honora Lee Wolfe, Dipl. Ac., Lic. Ac., techniques. In issue #8, 2002 of Hu Bei Zhong Yi
FNAAOM Za Zhi (Hubei Journal of Chinese Medicine),
Wang Zhi-xing and He Shui-yong published an
article titled, “The Treatment of Plum Pit Qi with
Keywords: Chinese medicine, acupuncture, Body Acupuncture, Network Vessel Puncture,
network vessel puncture, plum pit qi, globus hys- and Cupping,” in which they discuss the
tericus, neurotic esophageal stenosis acupuncture treatment of just such enduring, pro-
longed plum pit qi.
In Chinese medicine, neurotic esophageal steno-
sis or globus hystericus is called plum pit qi (mei Cohort description:
he qi). Plum pit qi refers to a feeling of some-
thing stuck in the back of the throat which can Altogether, Drs. Wang and He describe 30
neither be swallowed down nor spit up. This feel- patients in their article, 12 males and 18 females
ing is likened to a piece of cooked meat or a plum aged 23-55 years. All of these patients had suf-
pit lodged in the back of the throat, hence its fered from plum pit qi for from 1-6 years, and all
Chinese name. This condition is considered pri- had undergone physical examination of their
marily a psychiatric complaint in Chinese medi- throats which excluded any organic disease
cine. It typically occurs in female patients who changes.
are under stress or who have unresolved psycho-
logical issues. Typically, it accompanies exces- Treatment method:
sive fear and fright, nightmares, heart palpita-
tions, a feeling of anxiety and apprehension, and Drs. Wang and He applied two different treat-
insomnia. Also typically, physical examination of ments to these patients in tandem. The first treat-
the throat is negative, although sometimes post- ment consisted of using a plum blossom or seven
nasal drip may be diagnosed. Within Chinese star hammer on the two sides of the anterior neck
medicine, this condition is believed to be due to bilateral to the Adam’s apple. A seven star ham-
depressed liver qi which drafts upward and binds mer is a small hammer with seven small needles
with phlegm. This phlegm lodges in the throat embedded in the face of the mallet. The head of
similar to how creosote is deposited in a chim- the hammer holding the needles is tapped on the
ney. Commonly, this condition comes and goes skin. Depending on the force of the tapping, this
depending on the patient’s level of stress, and it is causes either erythema or erythema accompanied
usually amenable to treatment by either acupunc- by slight bleeding of the treated area. In this case,
ture or internally administered Chinese herbal Drs. Wang and He did tap till bleeding was
medicine. However, in some patients, this com- caused. Then they applied small suction cups
plaint can continue for months and even years. In over the area that was bleeding in order to
such enduring conditions, certain special increase the amount of blood withdrawn from the
Chinese medical theories must be invoked which superficial veins. This treatment was done twice
1
per week, with two times equaling one course of longed and enduring, it was no longer just in the
treatment. Additionally, each patient received channels but had entered the network vessels.
“body” acupuncture at He Gu (LI 4), Tai Chong The network vessels (luo) are smaller than the
(Liv 3), Lie Que (Lu 7), and Zhao Hai (Ki 6). If channels (jing). They are also more numerous.
chest oppression was severe, Nei Guan (Per 6) As Drs. Wang and He point out, one of the state-
was added. If there was profuse phlegm in the ments of fact in Chinese medicine is that new or
throat, Feng Long (St 40) was added. If there was recent diseases are in the channels, while old or
insomnia, Shen Men (Ht 7) was added. These enduring diseases have entered the network ves-
points were needled once per day, and the nee- sels. When Chinese doctors say that a disease has
dles were retained for 30 minutes per treatment. entered the network vessels, what they mean is
Five such body acupuncture treatments equaled that the disease has caused blood stasis in the
one course of treatment, and treatment effects network vessels. In that case, it is not enough to
were assessed after anywhere from 1-3 courses use fine needle acupuncture on the channel
of treatment. points located on the body. One must use a spe-
cial technique called network vessel puncture
Treatment outcomes: (luo ci). Network vessel puncture means to nee-
dle the superficial venules and/or capillaries in
Cure was defined as complete disappearance of order to cause bleeding. This technique thus
any subjective symptoms as well as freedom drains the static blood from the network vessels,
from recurrence on follow-up after a half year. something which fine needle acupuncture does
Marked effect was defined as marked improve- not do or at least does not do very efficiently.
ment in subjective symptoms and/or slight recur- When network vessel puncture is followed by
rence from time to time. Some effect meant that cupping, this even more effectively drains static
there was a decrease in subjective symptoms but blood from the network vessels.
that these symptoms recurred. Based on these
criteria, 21 cases were judged to have been cured, In the above protocol, Drs. Wang and He used
eight cases experienced a marked effect, and one body acupuncture to address the main disease
case experienced some effect. Therefore, the mechanisms of plum pit qi, i.e., liver depression
total effectiveness rate was 100%. In fact, 24 causing upward counterflow and phlegm bind-
cases experienced marked improvement in only ing. But because this condition had gone on for
one treatment. so long, this alone was not, in their opinion,
enough to remedy this situation. Therefore, they
Discussion: used network vessel puncture followed by cup-
ping in the affected area in order to locally treat
Body acupuncture means the puncture of the the blood stasis in the network vessels. By com-
channel points on the trunk and extremities of the bining these two techniques, they were able to
body with so-called fine needles. Fine needles treat both the root (ben) and the tip or branch
(hao zhen) are one of nine traditional types of (biao) of the disease simultaneously and
acupuncture needles. They are what most people achieved a 100% effectiveness rate (although not
think of when they think of acupuncture needles. a 100% cure rate).
They are extremely fine (30-40 gauge) solid nee-
dles from one half to four inches or so in length. What I personally find important about this arti-
According to traditional Chinese acupuncture cle is that it shows that body acupuncture with
lore, fine needles treat the channels. However, in fine needles is not effective to treat every kind of
the above case, because the condition was pro- every disease. Fine needle acupuncture is only
2
one of the treatment modalities which as a whole ture to the point that many acupuncturists do not
comprise the art of zhen jiu or acupuncture and even realize that is only one of several modalities
moxibustion. The traditional techniques of that make up acupuncture and moxibustion as
acupuncture and moxibustion are not fully inter- whole. In my experience, many of the failures of
changeable and discretionary. Certain of these acupuncture in contemporary clinical practice
techniques are indicated for certain situations. are due to using the wrong tool on the wrong
Needles do not necessarily do the same things as condition. Hopefully, this article will alert more
moxibustion, and, even with needles, fine needle practitioners to the irreplaceable importance of
acupuncture cannot necessarily achieve all the network vessel puncture in the armamentarium
same things as network vessel puncture and vice of acupuncturists.
versa. Unfortunately, both in Asia and the West,
there has been a tendency in the last 50 years to Copyright © Blue Poppy Press, 2003. All
emphasize the role of fine needle body acupunc- rights reserved.
Copyright © Blue Poppy Press, 2003
For information on other research reports or to reseive a catalog, call 1-800-487-9296

or visit us at www.bluepoppy.com

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BLUE POPPY PRESS RECENT RESEARCH REPORT # 348

Body Acupuncture & Network Vessel Puncture

by then indicate the usage of special acupuncture

Copyright © Blue Poppy Press, 2003

For information on other research reports or to reseive a catalog, call 1-800-487-9296

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