A clear definition

Prof Wei begins his first article* with a clear definition of the terms 'dynamic points' and 'static points'.

"The term dynamic points refers to those movement holes** that are in a hidden or mobile state. These points, distributed over the body, are numberless, nameless, and their location is not fixed.

"Static points refers to those named, numbered movement holes with fixed locations that are, relatively speaking, in a static state.

"Dynamic points are located primarily on the basis of clinical examination, while the location of static points is based on their locations as recorded in the literature.

"An example of dynamic points would be A-shi points, while channel points of the 14 channels and the extraordinary points are examples of static points.

*《动穴疗效钩玄》"On the Efficacy of Dynamic Points"

**Here 'movement hole' is used as a literal translation of the Chinese term 俞穴 (shū xué).

Prof Wei Jia: A brief introduction

Prof Wei Jia was born in Jiangxi Province in 1933. He started studying medicine from his uncle at the age of 14, and in 1958 began work as a teacher at the Jiangxi College of TCM, a position he only recently retired from.

He has dedicated his entire career to the field of acumoxa, a path he described in his brief autobiographical essay 《我的针灸之路》("My Journey with Acumoxa") as one fraught with challenges. The first was the stress laid on Western medicine that he encountered during his first formal medical education in 1954, the second was the discouragement that he received for choosing acumoxa over internal (herbal) medicine, the third was his realization in the 60's that his clinical results in the city were worse than they had been in the countryside, and the last was the disaster that the cultural revolution wrought on higher education and the medical profession.

In spite of these, he persevered, and in addition to numerous government, professional, and honorable positions, he was the chief-editor of the national textbook 《各家针灸学说》("Theories of Different Acumoxa Schools"), created the subject “无创痛穴疗学” （"Painless Point Therapeutics"), and published 《千金针灸临床类编》("Classified Clinical Acumoxa Content from Thousand Pieces of Gold", as well as countless academic articles.

“动穴疗效钩玄” ("On the Efficacy of Dynamic Points") and “动穴定位钩玄” ("On the Location of Dynamic Points"), the two articles that contain the ideas this blog hopes to explicate, were published quite recently in the prestigious 中医药报道 (Traditional Chinese Medicine Journal). I'm currently not sure what kind of welcome they received within the Chinese TCM community, or what impact they have had, but as I do more reading and have more opportunities to discuss the ideas with colleagues I should be better able to answer these questions and more.

Dynamic Points

The term "动穴“ (dynamic points) was created by Jiangxi TCM College professor Wei Jia (魏稼) to describe a class of acupoints that have no fixed name, location, or number, and are often in a hidden or mobile state, requiring special diagnostic techniques to identify.

In two articles published in 2008*, Professor Wei Jia introduced the term and its definition, as well as the historical usage of such points, different types of identification techniques, and numerous anecdotal examples of their use from his personal experience.

In 2009 Prof Wei came to my campus to give a lecture on the topic. I had never heard of him before, and the material he presented was interesting, but completely new to me. I was impressed by Prof Wei's background, his questioning attitude, and his strong criticism of the overwhelming emphasis on "static points" in acumoxa education. At the lecture I asked him how, if dynamic points were made part of a school curriculum, would he suggest testing the students' understanding, and he replied simply that this was a difficult problem, and one that had not been addressed yet. This answer greatly impressed me, as it is a rare professor who will cheerfully admit to not knowing the answer to something (especially in public).

The ideas presented in his lecture and articles allowed my thinking to expand in new ways. The disconnect between the authoritative listing of indications for each "static point" in my textbooks (described by Prof Wei as "philological summarization") and clinical reality still remained, but I felt as if I was suddenly given the tools to begin my own re-discovery of the channels and points. My new understanding was that the clinical usage of the static information presented in textbooks required examination of the dynamic body. And how could it be examined? Through touch, through visual observation, through application of heat . . . through attentive communication with the patient.

What a delight! To know that this was indeed "Real Chinese Medicine", to know that it produced obvious therapeutic effects, to know that I would have to palpate and observe and listen to each patient before needling them . . . this is why I came to study this art!

In these pages I hope first to introduce the concepts of dynamic and static points as described by Professor Wei Jia, then broaden out to include related ideas and work by other authors.

*”动穴疗效钩玄“ 中医药通报 2008年 第7卷 第1期，”动穴定位钩玄“ 中医药通报 2008年 第7卷 第4期