Integrative Perspectives on Human Growth and Development: Insights into Acupuncture-Point Function from Developmental and Evolutionary Viewpoints

Abstract

Abstract

While research examining Chinese medicine frequently explores the mechanisms of acupuncture and evaluates acupuncture protocols for disease treatment, little is written addressing growth and development from the Chinese medical perspective, including how changes over the lifespan interconnect with point and channel function. No published research addresses connections among evolutionary biology, growth and development, and acupuncture-point function rationale. Nonetheless, acupuncture as a system is understood, in large part, as utilizing points along channels that have functional significance. What those channels are and how they develop over the lifespan is seldom addressed, and not agreed upon. The arena of growth and development can provide critical insight into acupuncture-point indications, as well as expanding the understanding of acupuncture physiology into the realms of evolutionary biology and developmental biology.