:: yellow text means unrevised translation/incomplete work ::

NB: the author considers and uses the words "channel", "meridian" and "vessel" as synonyms.
 

Even though the embryologic explanation I have given for the strange circle in the kidney acupuncture channel is the most surprising of my findings, what I have written on this page concerns my very first observation in the domain of acupuncture (2001). It showed me that the way to demonstrate or confute the Acupuncture Channel System's (ACS) existence is the scientific method, which is based on observation. Thanks to meticulous study of the acupuncture back-shu points, I guessed that if the ACS exists it must correspond exactly with anatomy. Many definitions-descriptions of back-shu points in modern books mix and confound TCM knowledge with anatomical knowledge. For example, one of these says:

"The back-shu are the points on the back where "Qi" of the respective zangfu organs is infused. They are located on either side of the vertebral column, in close proximity to the spinal ganglia and their respective zangfu organs, hence the name back-shu points. Each of the zangfu organs has a back-shu point, as does the Sanjiao [Triple Burner or Triple Burner or Duodenum, author's note], a total of twelve."

The above-mentioned concept of Qi is too difficult to be faced in a scientific way - I told myself. It is like the concept of God, so I'd better leave it alone. Given that according to TCM the "Qi" flows into the acupuncture channels (together with the blood!), and these channels have been described and depicted abundantly and equipped with points where needles are inserted, this is a field I can cultivate. In truth, there are not only "twelve" points that have "shu" as a suffix after the relevant organ's name, but there are 4 points above the diaphragm and 14 (plus 1 extra) below the diaphragm, a total of nineteen, taken as the reference point since it divides the thoracic and abdominal cavities. In the pictures below we can observe the morphologic and topographic correspondence between the embryo's somites chain and the acupuncture back-shu points chain (the 12 meridian organs are red, the remaining non-meridian organs grey). In acupuncture maps, the back is the region of the body most rich in acupuncture points.  
 

As drawn in the picture above, every back-shu point seems to refer to a single organ, a specific anatomical unit. So, a question arises: does the Dumai channel have its own corresponding organ, and if so what is it? I discovered what it is, while I was studying a method to fix in my memory the names and positions of the back-shu points. In the picture above you see the back-shu points listed in the same way you have already seen them many times in acupuncture book tables. Like the items on the menu of a good restaurant, every back-shu point must correspond perfectly to its related organ. What is immediately evident in the picture on the right is that the organs in the thorax are arranged according to a concentric, onion-like criterion, while in the abdomen the organs are arranged according to a stack-like criterion, one on top of the other. The characteristic movement of the principal thoracic organs (lungs and heart) is that of a sponge: taking in and releasing air and blood. Pleura and pericardium help this movement by the means of negative pressure. The oesophagus is clearly not a real thoracic organ because it makes the same movement as the abdominal organs: they push something downward. Of course I am purely focusing on the mechanical aspect of the organs physiology. Geshu (back-shu point of the diaphragm) separates the two different containers and criteria. The back-shu points of the thorax list the organs on the basis of their progressive internal position: so first you meet the skin, the ribs, the pleura (that apparently have not a point back-shu), feishu (the lung), then jueyinshu (the pericardium), then xinshu (the heart), then dushu (dumai) and finally geshu (the diaphragm), the base against which all organs in the thorax are leaning. Since the onion-like criterion of the thorax organs arrangement is anatomically exact, what is the organ situated within the heart that corresponds to the dumai back-shu point? The answer is the "electrical conduction system of the heart", with its sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes, its right and left bundle branches. It is the "Brain of the Heart". Sincerely I don’t know if any classic or modern author has already made the same observation. In every case it is in tune with both western anatomy and the Chinese description of the dumai channel path, the second branch of which "rises inside the lower abdomen, goes to the umbilicus and ascends to the heart". So it is easier to memorize the back-shu points in the thorax. It is enough to remember that feishu, the first one, is between the 3rd and the 4th thoracic vertebrae, the others come subsequently.

You just follow the onion-like criterion: - the lung, feishu BL-13 (T3-T4) wraps the pericardium, - the pericardium, jueyinshu BL-14 (T4-T5) wraps the heart, - the heart, xinshu BL-15 (T5-T6) wraps the dumai. - The dumai, dushu BL-16 (T6-T7) or the sinoatrial node "governs" the heartbeat, the primitive rhythm of life. In a certain sense it is the most important organ in the body, because it generates the first sound you can hear in the foetus, when the person exists but is not yet breathing. At the end of back-shu points in the thorax there is the basis, the diafragm, geshu BL-17 (T7-T8).
 

Heart current propagation: 1. node sinoatrial (sinus node) 2. internodal pathway 3. atrioventricular (A-V) node 4. atrioventricular (A-V) bundle 5. left and right bundle branches

normal electrocardiogram at frequency of 60 beats/min

The heart image and animation above come from the most important resource of free images in the web. Click the logo on the left to visit the site.

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