Review of the Blood-letting Therapy Written in the Donguibogam

Abstract

Young-Wan Kwon, Sang-Ryong LeeDept. of Meridian & Acupoint, college of Oriental Medicine, Woo-Suk UniversityAbstractObjectives : This study is designed to improve the practical possibility using Blood-Letting therapy through reviewing the literature recorded in the Donguibogam.Methods : Records on Blood-Letting therapy have been extracted from Donguibogam. First all articles containing the key words ‘Hyul (血)’ and ‘Rak (絡)’ have been extracted. Of them, records associated with Blood-Letting therapy had been sited and classified in terms of searching patterns for the Blood-Letting area, instruments for Blooding-Letting, cautions and side effects for the practice, applicable symptoms, acupoints/extraordinary acupoints, and Blood-Letting areas.Results : The regions capable of Blood-Letting are generally engaged with abnormal skin color such as black, bluish red, dark purple, dark blue, etc, and localized collection of fibrous exudate. There are several instruments used for Blood-Letting therapy; Samreongchim (三陵鍼), Chogyong (草莖), Pichim (鈹鍼), Lodaeguan (蘆管尖), Sachim (砂鍼), Saechim (細鍼), Gichim (蜞鍼), Eunjam (銀簪), nail, etc. Several cautions and side effects of the Blood-Letting therapy are presented. The Blood-Letting therapy could be applied to broad spectrum of symptoms. Body parts being applied were not only several acupoints but also effective points of the body.Conclusions : This study shows that Donguibogam represents Blood-Letting therapy in clear fashion so as to enhance the convenience and its practicality.Key words : Donguibogam, Blood-Letting therapy, Hyul, Rak