Customer Reviews

Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture: Methods and Applications

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
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This intriguing book appears to be going out of print. I hope it is saved for future practitioners at least through Kindle access.

The technique is clearly modern, about 40 years old now, and developed in China as a simplification of each of the 12 primary channels into a single command point (usually the luo-connecting point) accessed by a transverse needle just under the skin. It has some analogous logic and therapeutic properties to the modern technique of Chinese Scalp Acupuncture which likewise utilizes a very limited number of locations for a broad range of applications for which a transverse needle is threaded under the scalp. The 12 body locations treat not only pain but seem applicable to a wider variety of "internal organ conditions" than Chinese Scalp Acupuncture, given that the latter excels primarily for pain and neurologic conditions.

The author does a very nice job succinctly summarizing the technique. She discusses the possible means by which it might work both from the standpoint of ancient chinese theoretical foundations about the 12 meridians and their distal command points, and from the perspective of more modern ideas about signal-processing -- particularly those special features within skin and their embryologic derivations/interconnections.

Despite the age of the book, the brief descriptions of each illness or syndrome in both western medical terms and chinese diagnostic categories based on TCM diagnosis was useful. I did not find much to argue with at least from a western standpoint.

I was very pleased to see an attempt to include initial outcome data for every illness/syndrome that was included. In most cases there are summary tables listing the number of persons, sometimes by gender, duration of illness, with total cases and then by degree of improvement. Occasionally there are limited comparisons with control subjects or other techniques. However, in most cases the statistics are limited to percentages of responders versus nonresponders; because there are only rarely the appropriate control groups to allow inferential statistics. Thus, it is not possible to separate out the natural course of an illness that might have resolved anyway. Yet, for many of these it would be reasonable to hypothesize that there was potential merit not too much different from what we have to work with in clinical situations. There are examples of a protracted illness or long-duration pain problem (2 or more years) without response to other medications, herbal treatments or interventions including TCM acupuncture, until this technique was attempted -- then in a matter of 10 daily sessions or less there were recognizable improvements.

Obviously more clinical data with control groups, within-subject designs, and objectively measured outcomes is needed. Nonetheless, what this ambitious and meticulous author gathered still exceeds that which is available in one orderly collection for the "accepted strategies" of body acupuncture in the majority of popular textbooks, ancient or modern.

It was not done by a well-financed publisher, so understandably it is missing some of the niceties of design and layout expected in the age of computerized publishing. The remaining books out there should probably be less expensive than the $65 or so, as listed now.

I plan on revising my review after more time to work directly with the technique. If I find it to be applicable and successful in my clinical setting, I'm likely to raise the rating to a 5. This one might just be a sleeping treasure. I note that it was recognized favorably at the time of its publication by a former president of the NCCAOM and an executive director of the AAOM.

First, I'm happy to be see the book on Amazon.com. I think that Dr. Lao intended this book as a comprehensive, systematic, and academic introduction to Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture, a specialized technique utilizing 12 acupoints that was developed 30 years ago. This technique is readily to be incorporated into your practice as well. The book provides a general introduction and symptom/sign location, selection of points, and needling techniques. Clinical applications are presented by category, and include a wide range of pain conditions as well as internal, psychological, neurological, dermatological, gynecological, and EENT disorders. A brief section at the end of the text presents possible theories and correlation relative to TCM and modern science.