The Therapeutic Depth of Abdominal Acupuncture Points Approaches the Safe Depth in Overweight and in Older Children

Abstract

Few studies have reported on the relative ratio between the depths to which acupuncture needles are inserted in therapy (therapeutic depth) and safety depth (the distance from the surface of the skin of the acupoint to the transverse fascia). This ratio may be of clinical importance because it may have an impact on the safety and the therapeutic effectiveness of acupuncture. We retrospectively studied children aged 7 to 15 years who underwent abdominal computed tomography (CT) at our hospital during the period January 1997-March 2006. Twelve (12) abdominal acupuncture points (CV-3, CV-4, CV-6, CV-10, CV-12, CV-14, KI-12, ST-24, ST-25, SP-15, LV-13, and LV-4) were measured directly on the CT images. The ratio between the therapeutic depth and safe depth of the 12 abdominal acupoints with factors sex, body weight, age, and waist girths were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis. A total of 204 patients were included in this study. There was no significant difference in the therapeutic depth over safety depth ratio (T/S ratio) between genders. The T/S ratio of these 12 acupuncture points ranged from 0.67 to 0.88 and increased significantly with body weight, age, and waist girth (p < 0.001). The therapeutic depth of abdominal acupoints is closer to the safe depth in overweight and in older children aged 7 to 15 years old. There was no significant difference between genders.