Doctor Yu’s Clinical Notes III: Some Intriguing Facts of Acupuncture Points | 于博士行医手记 （三）| 穴位的妙用 续
The Ren Zhong Point
Last week I talked about the application of ren zhong point. Actually, my knowledge of this point was learnt from my undergrad Professor Mr. Ji. When I was an assistant to Prof Ji in his clinic, there were nearly a hundred patients of different conditions seeing him every day. To my surprise there were patients of mental conditions such as depressions seeing him too. Prof. Ji usually treated these patients from the ren zhong point, and most of them felt much relaxed and released after only several minutes of treatment---ren zhong point has very good soothing effect. Later after I started my own clinic, I often used ren zhong point treatment on patients suffering from herniated spine discs, rheumatoid arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis ( I was concentrated on these conditions at that time too). You may want to ask: why are these patients suitable for treatment on the ren zhong point? The reason is because these patients usually have condition of depression, because: 1. most of the patients are young, working people, therefore they usually have burden of work or family responsibilities; 2.most of the patients are having chronic conditions that have caused them great pain so they tend to be depressed; 3. their condition becomes worse when they are depressed, and the more depression the worse the condition. Therefore, because ren zhong point’s soothing effect, treatment of ren zhong point can help to reduce their depression and therefore enhancing the whole treatment.
Today I used ren zhong point treatment on two patients, one of asthma who also has condition of swollen face, one of ankylosing spondylitis. The asthma patient was receiving ren zhong treatment for the third time, and his swollen face condition was almost gone after the treatment. The ankylosing spondylitis patient was the first time receiving the treatment, and I believe he will soon see the effect.
About “One Point and Heal”
According to my experience in the past 20 years, “one point and heal” is especially effective on the patients who have just acquired the condition, and whose condition is on the severe end.
Recently I experienced something like this: my right shoulder felt uncomfortable because I player golf a lot these days. The pain was slight and I did not feel any pain after practice, so I did not care about it too much. Last Sunday, I was playing golf in Surrey. It was light rain in the beginning, and on the 9th hole the rain became heavy. I continued playing despite the rain, and after I swung with the driver suddenly I felt a great tearing pain on my right shoulder. I was hesitating to keep playing, and I remembered there is an acupuncture point called “Yu Jian” I read about in the book One Point Healing, written by Prof. Shuzhong Gao of Shandong Chinese Medicine University. Therefore I applied pressure on the Yu Jian point on my shoulder, and as described in the book it was extremely painful---it felt like something swelling inside. I kept pressing and rubbing the Yu Jian point, applying pressure with more and more strength while walking to the next shot 200 yards away. Soon the pain started to disappear. I kept rubbing the point while playing, and on the 10th hole I did not feel any pain. That night when I got home I pierced the Yu Jian point with needles, as well as two other points, and the second day the pain did not come back.
There were a number of successful cases that I used Yu Jian point for treatment of periarthritis of the shoulder. There was a french-speaking elderly patient named Benott, he came to me a week after he got the condition. He was not able to move his right shoulder, and the situation would become so bad in the night time that he could not sleep. I checked him, and applied treatment focusing on the Yu Jian point. On the second day his condition almost recovered.
This Monday an elderly patient with last name Yip came to my clinic. She was suffering from pain in the sitting bone. She came with her son because she did not speak English. Because of the pain, she appeared very anxious. I asked about her past conditions, checking her all over, and asked her to get down on the bed. Because of the pain on her left calf, she had to raise the left leg off the bed and mourned painfully when she got down. I told her it will be OK, and quickly piercing the Yang Lao point with needle, and asked her to cough. I rotated the needle quickly, and eventually I saw she put down her leg on the bed and stopped mourning. Today she came for a second visit, and her pain was largely gone. The only condition she had was weak limb strength and could not sit for long.
To master the “one point and heal” method requires intensive study. Another doctor, Mr. Decheng Chen, who was also an old friend of mine, had extra expertise in the area. Many years ago he wrote a book single point treatment, which I have not studied. Therefore, what I said today could be just the superficial things of the vast knowledge of CTM.
Hope you have a happy week. We will continue next week.
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人中穴
上一次我谈到了人中穴的应用。其实，我对这个穴位的认识也是从我研究生导师纪青山教授那里学来的。当时纪老师每日看诊一百人左右，接触了各种病症，其中还有忧郁症等精神疾病。对于这些病人纪老师经常用人中穴治疗，大多数病人在得到治疗后几分钟就感到心情舒畅。后来在我行医过程中，尤其在治疗腰椎间盘突出症、类风湿、强直性脊柱炎（这是我当时接触到的主要病症）时经常使用，因为这类病症有几个共同点：一、患者大多年轻，都有家庭的责任和工作负担，压力大；二、这类病症往往经久不愈，患者心情不好；三、当心情不好压力大时，病情往往加重。因此根据人中可以治忧郁症的原理，给这类病人的疗程加上人中穴的治疗，往往会有更好的效果。
今天十月二十六日，来访的病人中，我给一位有面肿症状的哮喘病人，和另一位强直性脊柱炎的病人用了人中穴治疗。哮喘病人今天是第三次用人中穴治疗面肿，症状基本消失。脊柱炎的病人则是第一次使用人中穴治疗，预计很快会见效。
关于“一针治疗”
根据我二十余年的经验，“一针治疗”的方法，对于得病时间越短，病情越严重的病人越有效。
举个例子，由于近期我练习高尔夫球练得较多，右肩有些不舒服。一开始我没在意，因为每次练习后就不疼了。上个星期天我在Surrey的一个球场打球，开始时略有小雨，到第九洞时雨开始变大。我没管它，继续打球，打完一号木后，就感觉右肩有强烈的撕裂痛感。当时我犹豫是否要打下去，情急之下，我想到了一个穴位叫鱼肩穴，这是从山东中医药大学高树中老师的《一针疗法》中学来的。我检查左手鱼肩穴果然压痛无比，里面像是肿了一般。于是我决定自己治疗。在推车行进到第二杆的途中有两百码的距离，我一边推车走，一边自己从轻到重按压鱼肩穴，撕裂痛感就开始迅速地消失了。打完第二杆后我继续按压。当打完第十洞时，已经完全感觉不到疼痛了。后来回到家里，再用针刺此穴，加上刺激局部另外的两个穴位，第二天就再没有疼过了。
我用鱼肩穴治疗肩周炎也有几个相当成功的例子。有一位讲法语，叫做Benott的老病人，肩周炎发病一个礼拜以后来就诊。他的右肩不能活动，夜间加重并严重影响睡眠。我检查他之后，给予鱼肩穴为主的治疗。隔一天他来复诊，病情已去十之七八。
针灸的治疗有时候就是这样神奇。本周一我收治一位叶姓坐骨痛的病人，由于她不讲英文，由她儿子打电话预约并陪伴看诊。由于剧烈疼痛，病人显得心烦气躁。我询问她病史，完整地为她检查身体后，让她趴在床上。她趴下时由于左侧小腿疼痛以至于不得不抬离床面并呻吟。我一边安慰她，一边快速在养老穴下针，并让她咳嗽。我快速捻转针，这时我看到她的小腿逐渐放平在床上了，也不再呻吟了。今天她来复诊，疼痛已经明显减轻，只余下四肢无力，不能久坐的病症了。
掌握这些能够一针见效的穴位，真的需要花费很多的读书时间。有一位著名的医生，也是我的老友陈德诚对某些穴位的用法有很多独到的见解。多年前他写的《独穴疗法》，我还没来得及拜读。因此今天我所谈及的只是皮毛而已。
祝大家有愉快的一周，我们下周继续。
