Doctor Yu’s Clinical Notes II: Some Intriguing Facts of Acupuncture Points | 于博士行医手记（二）| 穴位的妙用
When I was a graduate student, I used to work as a clinic assistant for my teacher Prof. Qingshan Ji in the hospital. One day, a doctor from another department of the hospital suffering from severe stomach pain came to the acupuncture department for help. Because Prof. Ji was busy, she was sent to another Professor, Prof. Guo. Guo used needle on her Zhong Wan point, but it did not help much. He then tried other points, but the situation still did not get better. Therefore they found Prof. Ji to help. Prof. Ji looked at the patient, and to everyone’s surprise he simply pulled out the needle on the Zhong Wan point, using direct piercing technique to push in the needle at the same point for 2 cun ---- and the pain went away immediately. This event made a deep impression on me. It was that moment I learnt the knowledge of acupuncture was beyond just needles and acupuncture points.
The other Prof., Prof. Guo was also a teacher of mine, and I respected him. I used to be assistant to him too. Prof. Guo was also expert of acupuncture and he was kind to every patient. One day, when we were about to go to lunch, a girl dressing in out-fashioned old clothes, who was obviously from the countryside came in. She was pressing her hand on her stomach, and she looked like in great agony. Prof. Guo told her “it will be OK”, and let her lay down to use needles on her. Unfortunately there were no effects after he tried several combinations. Prof. Guo told her to look for other doctors, but the girl told us that she had no more money. Prof. Guo thought for a while, and took out all the needles to pierce the Gong Sun points on the girl’s feet. The pain was gone immediately. Then Prof. Guo kept the needles in for 10 minutes to enforce the effect. It was 30 mins after break time when the treatment was done. I was fascinated by Prof. Guo’s expertise and was touched by his kindness.
These two stories really changed my view of acupuncture. Both of the professors were so good at using the acupuncture points, that they could fix the problems by piercing only one point. After I saw their deeds, I tried to achieve the same effect, but I could only succeed a few times.
Therefore, in the first 10 years of my medical practice, I mostly used multi-points treatment.
Acupuncture was indeed effective that I could achieve healing effects without piercing the best choice of points. However, the professors’ “one point and heal” were still in my mind and I kept learning to try new things out in practice.
Acupuncture is a kind of “energy healing” and sometimes it is hard to explain using current medical knowledge. Several years after school, I went to Shenzhen to work as an acupuncture doctor. One day a good-looking girl referred by a colleague came for treatment. I treated her with the best knowledge I know. After she recovered, she treated me and several friends a meal.
When we were eating, she got a phone call from her aunt, saying that she fell at home and could not get up. She pledged me urgently, so I went to her aunt’s place. Once I got in, I saw her aunt sitting in the chair motionless with a painful expression. I checked her, and used needle on her Ren Zhong point. After 20 seconds of piercing, she could stand up and briefly move around. The second day, she went to hospital to take X-ray, and it was shown that her second lumber vertebrae had a fracture---this kind of situation would be extremely painful if she was not treated by acupuncture first.
From then on, I started to have more and more “one point and heal” in practice. Although I was still somehow not so confident, I started to experience and learn more intriguing facts and fascinating methods of acupuncture. I made up my mind to study and master the “one point and heal” technique for the rest of my life.
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记得在读研究生时，我常跟随导师纪青山教授出诊。一天一个本院的医生因为急性剧烈胃痛来针灸科求诊。由于纪教授正忙，因此她就去另一个诊室，找另一位郭教授求治。这位郭教授就取中脘穴刺针，结果效果不好。也刺了其他穴位，效果还是不好。只好请纪教授治疗。纪教授看了看情况，只是把中脘穴上的针轻轻拔出来，换了直刺法刺入两寸，病人的疼痛就立刻消失了。这个故事对我影响很深，终身难忘。我真切的体会到，针灸的学问是如此深厚，远不止穴位而已。
故事中另一位郭教授也是我很尊重的老师，我也曾经当过他的助手。记得有一天中午，诊室里已经没有病人。我们正准备去吃午餐，进来一个穿着过时的农村女孩，用手捂着肚子，疼痛难忍。郭教授让她平躺，耐心的给她施针，用了几组穴位都没有效。教授让她去看其他医生，女孩说她没有钱了。郭教授认真想了一下后，把所有的针都取出来，单取两足的公孙穴。刚扎下去，女孩的腹痛就立即消失了，然后又留针10分钟。这时已过下班时间半个多小时了，当时我对郭教授的医术和医德都钦佩不已。
这两个故事对我影响很大。两位教授对针灸穴位的掌握是如此精准，而且都是一个穴位就达到效果。我总想达到老师的治疗效果，但只是偶尔有效。因此，我行医头十年内总是采用多穴治疗——针灸果然是神奇，虽然取穴不精，但总有疗效。不过，老师们一针治病的影子从来就没有离开我的脑海，我就从此读书学习，并常在临床上使用。
针灸是能量治疗，有时是用现代医学很难解释的。后来，我就去深圳当医生，有一天一位漂亮的女孩经过医院同事介绍来找我看病。等她的病好后，我们几个朋友一起吃饭时，她接到她阿姨的电话，说在家里跌倒，起不来。她很急切的请我去帮忙，我也只好跟她去了。到她家时，她阿姨在家里的椅子上坐着一动也不动，表情痛苦。我简单检查一下后，在她人中穴下针，行针二十秒之后，让她起身活动， 她已经基本恢复活动能力了。第二天，她自己去医院拍片检查，结果是第二腰椎压缩骨折。——这样的急症，如果当时不用针灸镇痛的话，病人还会白白承受更多的痛苦。
从那时开始，在我治疗中这种一针见效的例子慢慢多了起来，但我还是相当的不自信。不过那个时候我已经更深地感受到穴位的妙用和魅力。我也下定决心，在有生之年一定要掌握“一针见效”这样高深技术。
