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Meridians

cajela

Thinker
cajela
Joined
Jul 26, 2004
Messages
174
I'm doing a short massage course, which seems like a nice thing to learn. The instructor seemed on the whole knowledgable about anatomy and didn't say anything weird about mysterious 'energies'. But he did say that eastern "meridians" are now being used in western medicine and that it's all about nerves and where they go into the spine and is quite well accepted. I felt dubious and google hasn't helped.

Is he talking complete rubbish here?
 
The only meridians running anywhere near the patient are those of longitude and latitude. Which will change as they move. Forget that - stick with the good stuff!

And "CANNbrrraaaah"?? Are we Peter Harvey, perchance?
 
I thought so. He seemed otherwise so sane... Ah well, I'm pretty sure the musculature stuff is genuine.

We are not, in fact, Peter Harvey but we think it's funny. Nor are we the Queen, despite our use of the royal we, and her recent presence in our fair capital.
 
Zep said:
The only meridians running anywhere near the patient are those of longitude and latitude. Which will change as they move. Forget that - stick with the good stuff!

And "CANNbrrraaaah"?? Are we Peter Harvey, perchance?
Click to expand...

To nitpick, unless they're at the equator, only longitude is discribed with a meridian.
 
Well, I've now found out that meridians are related to acupuncture - I didn't know that; I had thought it was some Tai Chi thing.

I think that acupuncture is in the dubious, but not 100%, bullcrap group. There seems to be some substantiation that some of it works some of the time. I'm not clear that it isn't placebo when it works. (BTW, I have no interest in yyreg's thread - I can read Cochrane myself and see that most of the acupuncture studies are "insufficient data" with a couple of "maybe small effect".)

There are some recent PubMed indexed studies suggesting possible mechanisms by which it might work. And they're from reputable sounding places. (This is no longer guaranteed at PubMed, they're getting some weird stuff in there now.)

A couple in 2006:
Subcutaneous tissue fibroblast cytoskeletal remodeling induced by acupuncture: Evidence for a mechanotransduction-based mechanism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16511830

It has been determined that endomorphin-1, beta endorphin, encephalin, and serotonin levels increase in plasma and brain tissue through acupuncture application. It has been observed that the increases of endomorphin-1, beta endorphin, encephalin, serotonin, and dopamine cause analgesia, sedation, and recovery in motor functions. They also have immunomodulator effects on the immune system and lipolithic effects on metabolism.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16393878

Some big German study is going on.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16511742


Now my opinion on Chinese medicine is similar to my opinion on herbalism - it's a tradition born from a mix of folk wisdom, anecdote, trial and error, sheer guesswork and magical thinking. Some of it probably works to some extent, but when it does it's not because of the claimed underlying causes - no chi, no sympathetic magic. But hmmm, maybe not 100% woo.
 
as far as I can tell, the studies amount to that pricking people makes for a small effect above the placebo, as endorphins are released. but one of them showed that if you don't break the skin, the effect is the same. and it doesn't matter where the poking occurrs on the body.

so AFAIK, accupuncture works a bit better than a normal placebo, but not any better than getting poked randomly in the back by a guy with a pencil. (I don't know it must be slow and methodical to be a more convincing placebo. I doubt it'd be as effective if the guy just started poking away like crazy.)
 
Hmm, it will be interesting to see if anything comes of that German study. I have a little mental room for the possibility of acupuncture having something behind it. Like herbs & massage, there is actually something happening. Unlike reiki & homeopathy.

BTW, Lynx, love your .sig. Cracks me up.
 
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