Medical Acupuncture: News of Interest

This has been a busy interval between Medical Acupuncture journals. Most important and with sadness many of us became aware of the passing of C. Jim Dowden. Jim was the executive director of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture (AAMA). Kindly read the memorial that appears in this edition. If you did or did not know Jim, he was instrumental in spearheading the journal discussions with Vicki Cohn, MaryAnn Liebert Publishers, and the AAMA Board that led to the present publication arrangement. When I proposed this to the Academy there was some hesitation, until Jim said very bluntly, “We should have done this several years ago!” That set the tone and the rest is history.

Jennifer A.M. Stone, MSOM, LAc, senior editor, introduces herself to the readership in her editorial. Medical Acupuncture will profit from her talent as former editor-in-chief of The American Acupuncturist, Meridians, and the Journal of the American Society of Acupuncturists. Equally important Jen will bring to us needed expertise from licensed acupuncturists and physicians that made up her rank and file. I predict that Medical Acupuncture will morph into a leader of acupuncture literature beyond our expectations. We will all champion this effort as it is the right thing to do. All of us will be frontliners to make this happen. As Jen says, “We are champions of acupuncture.”

I am/was honored to be the president of the 10th Auriculotherapy Symposium in Lyon, France, June 4–6, 2021. Whether I attend virtually, or in-person will depend on the COVID-19 activity in France. As you know, the ear is one of many microsystems. Microsystems have a fascination to us because it is similar to a miniature acupuncture system. The human body has many of them and we plant our needles into their points. Why do they exist and what do they do? Each microsystem has its own physiologic function that may or may not be similar to the others. I found it intriguing to obtain a better knowledge of these systems. The whole is made from the sum of its parts.

This is part of my opening remarks for the 10th Auriculotherapy Symposium:

We are all gathered once more around the subject of acupuncture and the ear. The 2 organs on the side of our head that have fascinated us and also the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. Hippocrates (460–370 BC) reported that bloodletting from the ear reduced problems with impotency and ejaculation. The earliest Chinese book describes the connections between the external ear and the eyes, cheek, and throat as well as the upper limbs. The title of this book is: The Yin–Yang Eleven Channel Moxibustion (Yinyang Shiyi Mai Jiujing). Unknown authors wrote it between 770 and 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. It is the famous silk book unearthed in 1973 from a Han tomb in Mawangdui, Hunan, province of China.

It was reported that stimulating areas of the ear produced beneficial medical effects and the modus operandi were cloaked in an aura of mystery even in the 19th century. Dr. Paul Nogier, MD, made the astonishing and brilliant observation that the ear represented a projection of an inverted fetus and represented a microsystem. Many others have contributed to this knowledge and we are honored to have them present at this symposium.

The ear is not the only area of the body that represents a microsystem of acupuncture points that when stimulated produces downstream physiologic effects that may correct an imbalance in a biologic system. There are numerous microsystems in the human body that mirror the classical and traditional Chinese acupuncture and meridian system. It seems that stimulating specific points of a microsystem may mitigate pain in particular, and often corrects other pathologic disturbances in the human body.

To further explore and advance our knowledge of the ear microsystem, we all agree we need to have an acceptable mapping system to communicate accurately and situate the auriculo-points that interest us. If we do not have a method of mapping the ear, we will lose our way. Although there are many proposals of how to chart the ear, it is important to arrive at a consensus. We should compare ourselves to the early explorers of the world who had the similar challenges when traveling the high seas or even now in modern times as we explore the moon or Mars. We ask the same questions? Where are we? And when we have found a significant ear point that interests us, we must be able to convey to others how to locate it again and again without losing our direction. The analogy is similar to the navigation system in the automobile or aircraft. We need a system that we all agree to use and that is understandable not just by one person but by all. And as we explore the ear, we need to be certain that the points of clinical interest are not just fictional but are real and substantiated by clinical data and not by hearsay. We will eventually need to establish a database for the ear that consists of a meaningful map with coordinates and a confirmed clinical basis of the auriculo-points.

Why are there microsystems? Why do they exist? What are their purposes?

Acupuncture points and meridians may contribute to maintaining the regulation of biologic reactions that are important to sustain life. It is possible that microsystems represent secondary systems that reinforce homeostasis. These microsystems appear to mirror the entire meridians and acupuncture points that we find in the body because nature sustains itself repeatedly by self-similarity.¹ We use self-similarity in many ways in our everyday life to achieve durability. For example, we use dependable and reliable electronic circuits as the building blocks of complex electrical systems. Nature likes to reuse its best biologic conceptions to build redundancy. Fractality inherent in living forms is self-similarity.² Self-similarity also makes for a robust system. As an example, the branches of a tree repeat itself over and over again because it has proven to be sustainable. Microsystems are characterized by electrically activated points and if we detect and stimulate these points, we produce very often downstream favorable physiologic effects. Maybe microsystems were meant to be stimulated by humans but may also serve as a regulatory network in the larger biologic sense. All biologic networks have overlapping functions, connections, and even spatial redundancies that are important in the face of perturbations to prevent system failures. Microsystems may allow the body to “self-regulate” and maintain hemostasis that is so important to biologic functioning.

When we examine the human body, we appreciate the robust and redundancy of our various organs. We have 2 kidneys, eyes, ears, upper, and lower extremities.³ It is not surprising that microsystems exist to provide the regulation of our life processes in face of aggressive factors that tend to degrade the biophysical and thermodynamic mechanisms that support our existence³ We as humans mimic nature by building redundancy in our own physical world.⁴ A good example is dual braking systems in an automobile. It is inherent in our thinking that we reflect our desire to survive. Survival mechanisms are also found over and over again in nature. Microsystems may serve as complex hemostatic systems reproduced in abundance to regulate and sustain our life processes.⁴ Dr. Paul Nogier opened the door for exploration and all of us here today are part of this wonderful journey. Thank you!