Acupuncture Basics II - Meridians

What are meridians & what is their function?
The meridians transport Qi, Blood & nourishment throughout the body. In 400 BC, the ancients had no idea about the Krebs cycle, the immune system, nerve conduction, or lymphatic drainage. By observation, they realized that fluids & electrical impulses flowed throughout the body with supplementation from the external environment, and this was necessary for life of all living things.
The meridians also connect the organs & maintain homeostasis. How do our bodies maintain a constant temperature, maintain balance, and how do our endocrine and immune systems work? We tend not to ponder these questions until we have a fever, experience vertigo, suffer from diabetes, get a bee sting, or fight off the flu. These questions have been answered relatively recently, but practitioners have been treating disease based on observations for thousands of years.
If the body's defenses become weak, the external invaders can use the meridians to transmit disease. For example, a particle of the flu virus lands on your mucous membranes, enters your bloodstream & replicates in your lungs & lymph nodes. The meridians also reflect the symptoms of disease, which is how practitioners can make a diagnosis. For example, liver heat can manifest as yellowing of the sclera/jaundice, and the eyes are associated with the liver.
The meridians transport the therapeutic effects of herbal therapy & acupuncture. The arrival of the De-Qi is the reaction of the body to acupuncture. The De-Qi effect can feel like heat, tingling, pain, or heaviness. Human patients can tell the doctor how they feel. We vets look for muscle twitching or slight changes in behavior in our animal patients. The De-Qi response results in a release of endorphins, the body's endogenous pain killers & muscle relaxers.
I use 3 kinds of acupuncture in my practice: dry needle, electro, and aqua acupuncture. Dry needle is a simple insertion of small acupuncture needles. During electro acupuncture, the needles are connected to a battery-powered stimulator to deliver a painless low low-voltage current to the meridian. For Aqua acupuncture, I inject a small volume of vitamin B12 or glucosamine into the point. This causes a small blister and gives continual stimulation over a few days.

Archived from 5elements4animals.com
originally posted on Jan 11, 2011