Study of the thermal differences on the meridian points used to the cold hypersensitivity

Abstract

Acupuncture treatment is performed using the acupuncture, a needle made of various metals. These acupunctures are injected to the meridian acupuncture points according to the meridian theory and give an adequate stimulus to the body. This makes the control of the movements of the Qi, so that it induces the purpose of the treatment, and prevention of diseases. Cold hypersensitivity is feeling cold when one should not feel cold. This is a disease causing many difficulties in normal life to the patients, but until now the cause of the cold hypersensitivity has not been known. The object of this study is the evaluation of the thermal differences on the meridian points in cold hypersensitivity. When the patients had a cold feeling the authors diagnosed cold hypersensitivity by digital infra-red thermographic imaging (DITI). After the authors acupunctured the patients, they again performed DITI, then they observed the differences between them. Thereafter the authors acupunctured the patients 3 times for a week, and before and after the 3rd treatment, they performed DITI. To evaluate the differences of the meridian points, the authors used the thermal deviation of the DITI. According to this study, 56% of all the cases showed a thermal increase on average. The gradual decreases of thermal deviation may result from the increase of the average body temperature. Concerning the difference of the thermal distributions between extremities, further study may be required.