The Ion Pumping Acupuncture Technique (Dr. Manaka’s Technique): Experience from the Acupuncture Emergency Service at the Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)

Abstract

The Ion Pumping Technique of Acupuncture was developed in the early 40’s by Dr. Yoshio Manaka from Japan, and it is also known as the “Manaka Technique”.

During the 2nd World War, Dr. Manaka served as an Army surgeon, and dealt with many bum injuries; at that time, he observed that when the injuries were covered with aluminum foil, they relieved. Later on, he noted that bum injuries and other traumas have positive charged ions, due to the rupture of cellular membranes, and carried on experiences with a Van der Graaf generator, neutralizing these regions.

Finally, he used wires with diodes connected in serial, making a dipole cord, where the electrons could flow in one direction. Plugging these wires between two acupuncture points makes the electrons run from the terminal called “cathode” or positive (red) to the terminal called “anode” or negative (black), promoting redox reactions. In this manner, regions negatively charged could loose electrons (oxidation) and regions positively charged could gain electrons (reduction), bringing about a harmonization in these areas. That’s why the term “pumping” is used; despite the fact that the electron flow occurs passively due to the difference of the potential values, just like what occurs in electrochemical cells.

In 1998, the Emergency Service in Acupuncture at the Universidade Federal de S3o Paulo (UNIFESP) began its operation, helmed by Prof. Dr. Ysao Yamamura, MD, PhD. Today it attends over 2,500 patients per month, with focus on instant pain relief. Many techniques are used for the treatment, like key points, extraordinary channels, auriculopuncture, craniopuncture, and so on; it is important that they be quick and effective.

While searching for such techniques to improve our Emergency Service, we found the Ion Pumping Acupuncture very promising, because it is quick and can be quite effective. We have performed treatments on patients where the conventional acupuncture was not effective, and we witnessed many improvements.

Clinical cases, protocols of the Ion Pumping Acupuncture and results will be shown.