[quote:3a96295fb6="Tommy"]I have question about back - Shu points . Is any easy way to locate them?[/quote:3a96295fb6][quote:3a96295fb6="David King"]I think it's not difficult to find them! (...) [/quote:3a96295fb6]
The answer of Dr. King (see his post) is, of course, correct. However, a remark should be made.
It is easy indeed to locate those points, [i:3a96295fb6]but[/i:3a96295fb6] you need to have the basic skills in palpating the spine. So, to find the T1 spinous process, you should first look at the patient's neck from behind, where the C6 and C7 spinous processes are normally the most obvious in the lower part. You can differentiate between C6 and C7 by passively flexing and extending the patient's neck. With this movement, the C6 spinous process moves in and out and the C7 spinous process remains stationary. The next spinous process down from C7 is T1 and so on, counting down. As for the scapula inferior angle, I would not rely too much on its position, as, besides obvious anatomical deviations, the size of the scapula varies greatly, and its inferior angle might normally lie somewhere between T7 and T9. In fact, if your patient is lying face down (with his/her arms resting towards the floor), it is rather the spinous process of T6 which is located at the height of the angle in most cases (due to rotation of the scapula). As for using the level of the highest points of the iliac crests as a landmark, the line joining those two points usually crosses the spine in the L4-L5 interspace. After moving down to the first hard mass, the fingers will be resting on the spinous process of L5. Palpation of the iliac crests should be performed from the caudal direction. Palpation from the cranial direction might result in a layer of soft tissue padding over the crests, and therefore lead to errors in finding the right level. Moving towards the head, the interspaces and spinous processes of the remaining lumbar vertebrae can be palpated. However, in about 20% of subjects the spinous process of L5 is found at this level (Peuker E., Cummings M., 2003), so you might want to double check it, possibly by counting down from the spinous process of T1.
You can find a comprehensive discussion of many other anatomical issues related to acupuncture in the excellent series of articles called [i:3a96295fb6]Anatomy for the Acupuncturist - Facts & Fiction[/i:3a96295fb6] by Drs. Elmar Peuker (Germany) and Mike Cummings (U.K.) published in [i:3a96295fb6]Acupuncture in Medicine[/i:3a96295fb6] (2003; 21 (1-2):2-8; (3):72-79; (4):122-132), which can be downloaded (PDF) from the following links:
http://www.acupunctureinmedicine.org.uk/showarticle.php?artid=457
http://www.acupunctureinmedicine.org.uk/showarticle.php?artid=469
http://www.acupunctureinmedicine.org.uk/showarticle.php?artid=473
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Sergiy
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:06 am |