"Freaking Out!” — and other Pearls from Kiiko’s recent PDX class.
In her recent Portland, OR class, Kiiko Matsumoto presented new applications for a group of scalp points -- including GB 15, 16, 17-- referred to collectively as the the "DLPFC points”. (DLPFC is an abbreviation for a brain region known as the "dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex".)
"DLPFC points" include GB 15,16 and 17.
Dorso-lateral pre-frontal cortex
Pairing the images conveyed by Chinese point names with modern bio-medical knowledge, Kiiko again demonstrated the prescient insights of Han Dynasty physicians, and important new clinical applications for commonly encountered pain and stress-related conditions.
The DLPFC treatment points include six locations on the GB channel and two on the TW channel. One is GB 17, The or zhèng yíng. The name is composed of two characters: 正 and 营. Conventionally translated into English as "Correct-Nourish”, Kiiko points out that these two characters together carry an entirely different meaning: A severe kind of fear or, in the contemporary vernacular, “Freaking Out”!
Kiiko was curious: Why did the ancient Chinese doctors assign this name to this particular point. She asked a patient --a neuro-scientist-- about the region of the brain proximate to this point. Kiiko learned that the size of this brain structure was reduced in patients with chronic pain conditions, and with certain psychiatric conditions (anxiety, chronic fear and depression).
She considered this information in concert with something she learned as a consultant to a psychiatric hospital in Japan: Brain structures have been targeted by powerful magnets to treat depression and other disorders. Kiiko reasoned that if neuroscientists using magnets could affect positive change in these brain structures-- and associated affective states-- why not acupuncture: “If they can do, I can do!"
Kiiko also discussed the Chinese name for GB 15: 頭臨泣 or Tou Lin Qi.
The first character 頭 means "head", and the next two 臨泣 are are translated as "expecting to cry". There is an obvious similarity to GB 41: Zu Lin Qi or 足臨泣. The second and third characters (臨泣) are identical to Tou Lin Qi, but the first character in the name for GB 41 (頭) means "foot".
GB 41 has a master-couple association with TW 5, a point used to calm the sympathetic nervous system in Japanese acupuncture. In this class, Kiiko frequently confirmed the effectiveness of TW 5 on reactive reflex areas on the abdomen and the SCM, and then added GB 15 and the other DLPFC points.
In Kiiko sensei's first treatment of the seminar, she demonstrated the new applications applied these "new" points -- in concert with other treatment points that are well known to students of KMS acupuncture.
First demo patient: April 30, 2016
CC: SI/Hip pain mainly on (L).
Hx: 1990 Car accident, seatbelt ruptured intestines, scar from CV 12 to CV 4.
ASSESSMENT: Pressure Pain @:
(B) ASIS "Anybody who has hip pain, very important to check ASIS. Remember, this is ONE BIG JOINT."
(B) Mu/Shu & GB 26
(L) St. 27 Oketsu (R) St.. 26
CV 12, CV 7
SCM: bottom R
(L) S.I. area
TREATMENT:
1. Checks and needles TW 5 The effect of TW5 is similar to the DLPFC points: It calms the Sympathetic Nervous System. TW 5 releases all tender points on the abdomen, except (R) St. 26.
2. Checks and needles GB15 and GB 17 (at both TCM and Han Dynasty locations) Releases R. St. 26.
Kiiko is pressing GB 17, about 2 Cun posterior to GB 15 (needled).
Still some pressure pain at (L) SI area.
3. Needles (L) GB 34, "best point for SI pain".
4. Needles (L) Tai Yang and Shao Yang Jue points. ("SI joint belongs to Tai Yang-- hip joint is Shao Yang")
5. Needles "pinch points"-- above and below scapular spine. These points are related to SI joint.
These points released all remaining pain in the SI joint and hip.