Home Remedies Using the “Zu San Li” Point | 足三里的家庭妙用

Last week we talked about many amazing applications of the “Zu San Li” point. In fact, there are way more effects this point can achieve by doing some simple home remedies. I would like to share a personal experience: several months ago, I started to experience fatigue everyday near the end of work. I was so tired to a point I could not fully recover even after a good night of sleep. This was very rare condition for me. All my friends know that I am an active person. I exercise frequently, and I am not hesitant to do things that can enhance my health---I should be energetic. I figured that probably because I used the traditional needling techniques quite intensively in my clinical sessions, and lost too much “qi”. Therefore, I decided to apply acupuncture on myself. Then I started the self-acupuncture of the “Zu San Li” point twice a day, one time after driving the kids to school, another time in the evening for about 10 minutes each time using the tonification (“bu”) technique. Now it has been several months, and the fatigue problem has gone. Exactly when did the situation become better I could not remember. I only remembered that I told me family once “acupuncture has helped my health” in the second week after I started self-acupuncture. Having seen the good effects, I kept acupuncture treatment on the “Zu San Li” point a daily routine. Now I am as energetic as I can be no matter how many patients I see each day.

All the doctors, especially the famous ones have their own way of health-keeping, because all doctors need to be healthy themselves so they can treat the patients. In the history, among the TCM doctors, there are many examples: Bian Que1 invented the Qigong; Hua Tuo invented the Wu Qin Xi2---a form of Qigong mimicking the forms of tiger, deer, bear, monkey, and crane; Sun, Si Miao3 used moxibustion on the “Zu San Li”; Zhu, Liangchun, a modern TCM doctor and famous scholar of this field, was good at using the herb huang qi to enhance health----there are numerous example. I practiced acupuncture for decades and from my experience, the “Zu San Li’’ point is the most important point for health keeping.

Now here is the problem: I can easily apply acupuncture to the Zu San Li point, because I am acupuncture doctor myself. How would average people treat this point by themselves? First, you can try massaging this point, as long as you can find the point correctly (please refer to the last article for finding the point). However, if you do not know massage, you may massage not long enough or without enough force---then you may not have as good effects.

Therefore moxbustion is a better choice. To do it, you need to buy some mox sticks from any Chinese medicine store first. The mox sticks look like cigar and the way of use are similar to cigar too---just make sure you do not smoke the mox sticks. To use mox sticks, simply ignite one end of the stick, and pointing the stick at the point for 20 to 30 minutes. Please do make sure you do not burn yourself---keep the stick a little distance from the skin, so that you feel the heat is almost burning on your skin and your skin become red---but not burnt.

I often suggest this method to patients, especially those also suffering from cancer. There are two reasons the cancer patients may need this: first, they need to “repair” their immune system---all cancers care caused by a malfunction in the immune system, and Zu San Li point is a good way to enhance the immune system; second, this method can effectively reduce the uncomfortable side effects of chemotheraby or radiation therapy such as nausea, vomiting, fatigue, hand and foot coldness, bad appetite, and a low white blood cell count.

The traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes health-keeping and preventive medical treatment. This can be achieved by using the mox sticks properly---simply ignite the sticks, and put it to action. Health needs continuous care, so be persistent.

Here are some notes of those big TCM names above, in case you want to know more about the history of TCM:

1. Bian Que (Chinese: 扁䳍; pinyin: Biǎn Què) (also pronounced Pien Chueh, Wade–Giles: Pien Ch'iao; died 310 BC) was, according to legend, the earliest known Chinese physician. His deeds included using a needle to pierce a newly “died” prince’s head to raise him from death---in fact the prince was in a comma-like state. Bian Que advocated the four step diagnosis: looking, listening, inquiring, and taking the pulse.

2. Hua Tuo (c. 140–208) was an ancient Chinese physician who were most well known to invent the “ma fei san”, a kind of anesthesia for surgery.

3. Sun Simiao (c. 541 or 581-682) was a famous doctor of the Sui and Tang dynasty. He was titled as China's King of Medicine (药王, Yaowang) for his significant contributions to Chinese medicine and tremendous care to his patients.

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上周我们大致讲了一些足三里的应用范围，实际上足三里的功效还远远不止那些。我给大家讲一个亲身经历：大约几个月前，有一段时间每天工作将近结束时我总是感觉疲乏无力，甚至经过第二天休息后仍不能缓解。当时，我就思考是什么原因引起的：一是工作量大，二是由于我经常用传统的“行针”疗法，以致耗气很大造成的。熟悉我的人都知道我是一个很注意锻炼和自我调节的人，按说应该精力充沛才对。那次我还给自己吃了点儿中药，效果还是不太好。因此，我就决定给自己做针灸治疗，在每天早晨在送孩子上学后的十几分钟，和晚上在沙发上休息的十几分钟，我都给自己做两次足三里针灸，针用补法。不知不觉几个月过去了，我的疲劳状态不知什么时候就消失了，只记得曾在针灸第二周后对家里人说过“针灸对我身体有很大帮助”的话。后来由于见有如此好的疗效，我也没有中断过给自己针灸足三里。到目前为止，就算病人再多，也没再出现以前的疲劳状态，每日都精力充沛。

在中国历史中，每位名医都有自己的一套保健方法，因为所有的医疗工作，都要求医生自身拥有一个健康的体魄。例如，扁鹊会气功，华佗创造了五禽戏，孙思邈艾灸足三里，国医大师朱良春善用黄芪保健等，还有举之不尽的例子。我以针灸专业出身，通过自己的切身体会，见证足三里是医学首推的保健穴位。

作为医师，我当然可以用最简单的针刺就可以达到对自身的保健作用，那么普通人士该如何运用足三里进行保健呢？首先，按摩是最方便的，但一般人往往时间不够，或者力道不足导致效果不好。为此我最推荐艾灸足三里。

大家都可以在温哥华的中药店里买到艾条。艾条跟雪茄长得很像，用法也差不多（注意不可当雪茄抽）：点燃一端，对准穴位进行艾灸，每次20至30分钟，注意调节艾条跟穴位的距离，以皮肤发红但是不至烫伤为度。只要持之以恒，身体就会往好的方向发展。

这种方法我经常推荐给病人使用，尤其是癌症和肿瘤的病人。主要目的有二：一是修补免疫系统的漏洞，凡是癌症都是免疫系统的漏洞造成的，而足三里就是修复这个漏洞的最好办法；二是有效减缓放疗、化疗的副作用，如恶心、呕吐、精力减退、手足发凉、胃口差、白细胞减少等。

中医提倡养生和预防的医学方式，即所谓“治未病”的思想，通过艾灸就可以轻松达到了。这么简便，各位朋友还要等吗？足三里就是这么神奇，各位点燃艾条，马上行动吧，健康的身体需要坚持不断的努力！