EXPERIENCE ON THE INCORPORATION OF KORYO SOOJI CHIM HAND ACUPUNCTURE INTO A MEDICAL ACUPUNCTURE PRACTICE

Lowell E. Kobrin, M.D., Ph.D.

     Western medical practitioners who have had the good fortune to learn the intricacies of Chinese Medicine and put this knowledge into practice, soon realize that rather than being simply an additional technique to control pain, Medical Acupuncture is an important modality, along with other components of the Chinese medical system, by which the body-mind-spirit complex may be influenced at a fundamental level. It does not negate Western medical principles, but rather expands upon them.
     For the last five years, I have practiced within a framework which combines Western and Chinese medicine, integrating Medical Acupuncture into my general and gynecological practice. The AAMA and UCLA Extension Medical Acupuncture for Physicians Program (1) offers a comprehensive and thorough understanding of the fundamentals of acupuncture theory, meridian and point location, and diagnosis and therapy in its basic course. In addition, one may fur[her expand one's training through advanced courses in Energetic Principles taught by the French Medical Acupuncture Association, Traditional Chinese Medicine Approaches taught by visiting professors invited by the AAMA, and the Five Element Approach of Jack Worselay which is taught in England and at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland. The sophistication of Medical Acupuncture allows the design of the system that is most applicable to the individual patient's problems.
     When I originally heard of Korean Hand Acupuncture (2) from a colleague who attended Dr. Tae-Woo Yoo's first United States course in December 1987, I thought that it was simply another correspondence system like the ear, face or foot reflex systems. I soon realized that Dr. Yoo's system was far more than an adjunctive system to using the traditional body points, but rather the hand correspondence system was a point-by-point parallel to the body acupuncture points. This system was discovered by Dr. Tae-Woo Yoo in the early 1970s (3). By its application, one can design a treatment based on whatever system one chooses, such as TCM, 5 Elements, Mussat's Energetics, or Curious meridians, and then apply the treat-merit on the corresponding hand points rather than on the traditional body points. In contrast to body acupuncture, where one searches for the "De Qi" sensation at the acupuncture points, in Koryo Sooji Chim, one just penetrates the skin for a few millimeters to obtain the effect of that point. Interestingly, in this system there is still a specific sensation felt by the patient when the point is properly piqured.
     Initially, the Koryo hand acupuncture requires special attention to make the necessary conceptual transition from the body points to the hand points. However, one will soon begin to think of both body and hand point locations simultaneously. Obviously one must have mastered the body points before the hand correspondence points can be studied.
     I have to date treated such diverse problems as traumatic injuries, postsurgi cai neuralgia, premenstrual syndrome, oral and genital herpes, various emotional disorders, enuresis, childhood epilepsy, fi-bromyositis, vertigo and tinnitus, tonsilIi-tis, asthma and even respiratory failure in an ICU setting, all with the same or better results than if I had used the traditional body points. Sometimes I will also use thebody points or the ear points as adjunctive therapy. The Korean hand acupuncture point system has reduced my treatment time by nearly 50 per cent. Patient acceptance has been phenomenal. I have received a number of patients who have needle phobia, since even a four-year-old can tolerate the hand needles. I also begin to realize the full potential of using the hand magnets and the electronic beam stimulator (also described by Dr. Tae-Woo Yoo in his textbook), when applied to the hand point correspondences.
     Those practitioners embarking on this relatively new field will discover that Korean Hand Acupuncture has the potential to revolutionize patient's acceptance of acupuncture, regardless of the system of acupuncture in which the practitioner has been trained.

REFERENCES
1. UCLA Extension. Medical Acupuncture for Physicians. Santa Monica, California. J.M. Helms, Course Chairman.

2. Yoo, Tae-Woe. Koryo Sooji Chim: Koryo Hand Acupuncture. Vol. I. Seoul, Korea: Eum Yang Mek Jin Publishing Company, January, 1988, 1st printing in the English Language.

3. Treatises in Celebration of the 7th Korea-Japan Koryo Sooji Chim: August 16-17, 1985, Seoul, Korea. Koryo Sooji Chim Institute and Eum Yang Mek Jin Publishing Company, Seoul, Korea.

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