Relationship of acupuncture points and meridians to connective tissue planes

TLDR

Acupuncture meridians are traditionally considered channels linking the body surface to internal organs. The authors hypothesize that acupuncture points and meridians reflect the network of interstitial connective tissue. They mapped acupuncture points onto serial gross anatomical sections of the human arm to test this hypothesis. Ultrasound imaging and postmortem sectioning revealed that 80 % of acupuncture points align with intermuscular or intramuscular connective tissue planes, supporting the hypothesis that these anatomical relationships underlie acupuncture’s mechanism and highlight a potential integrative role for interstitial connective tissue. © 2002 Wiley‑Liss, Inc.; Anat Rec (New Anat) 269:257–265.

Abstract

Abstract Acupuncture meridians traditionally are believed to constitute channels connecting the surface of the body to internal organs. We hypothesize that the network of acupuncture points and meridians can be viewed as a representation of the network formed by interstitial connective tissue. This hypothesis is supported by ultrasound images showing connective tissue cleavage planes at acupuncture points in normal human subjects. To test this hypothesis, we mapped acupuncture points in serial gross anatomical sections through the human arm. We found an 80% correspondence between the sites of acupuncture points and the location of intermuscular or intramuscular connective tissue planes in postmortem tissue sections. We propose that the anatomical relationship of acupuncture points and meridians to connective tissue planes is relevant to acupuncture's mechanism of action and suggests a potentially important integrative role for interstitial connective tissue. Anat Rec (New Anat) 269:257–265, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.