Dr Wei's interest in dynamic points was spurred by curious experiences he has had over his long clinical career. In the article "On the Efficacy of Dynamic Points", he organized these experiences into 5 different events or periods in his life.
This post is composed of examples from the first period, occurring relatively early in his career:
In the 1950's and 60's, when he was sent to the countryside to practice medicine, it was very common for acupuncturists to treat conditions like toothache, abdominal pain, Bell's palsy, sores and boils, etc. When treating toothache, it was often enough to use standard static points like hegu, xiache, xiaguan, etc, but sometimes needling these points did not help. In these cases he would change methods; he would search for and needle sensitive points on the head and face and along the hand yang-ming channel. This method produced results 'like striking a drum produces sound'. For example, one patient's toothache was immediately relieved when two sensitive spots - one about one cun below renying and another near jianyu - were needled.
When treating abdominal pain related to digestive tract illness - a very common condition in the countryside - needling zusanli, hegu, zhongwan, tianshu, etc, would usually do the trick, but not every arrow would hit the target, so to speak. When these static points did not resolve the patient's complaint, he would search for and needle sensitive points close to either side of the thoracic and lumbar spine, or along the segments of the yang-ming channels below the elbows or knees, often producing results that exceeded expectations. For example, after finding pressure-sensitive points beside the 10th and 12th thoracic vertebra of a patient with ulceration of the stomach and duodenum, needling those points caused the pain to cease immediately.
In most cases, using standard static treatment points worked when treating facial nerve paralysis. In one patient's case, however, results were slow in coming. This patient's paralysis was originally caused by herpes zoster, and he had blisters distributed over his left ear and throughout his hair. Dr Wei changed his needling method to focus on the original disease - inserting 2-3 needles at each blistered area. Not only did this cure the patient's herpes zoster, but the symptoms of drooping eyes and mouth were also quickly resolved.
Another patient with facial paralysis complained that one half of their tongue was numb and was insensitive to taste. Other aspects of the disease showed improvement with the use of standard points, but the tongue issue still remained. Dr Wei located a pressure-sensitive point about one cun below daying on the lower jaw, and inserted a needle at this point up along the inside of the jaw bone to a depth of about 1.5 cun. After needling this point a second time, the symptoms of tongue numbness and loss of taste were resolved.
Localized skin infections were a common condition in the countryside - for example, sores, boils and swellings occurring on the shoulders and buttocks. It was difficult to throughly treat these conditions with antibiotics, and sometimes they had no effect at all. Instead, Dr Wei would insert needles about one cun away from the focus of the infection, or in local sensitive points. This would immediately bring the inflammation under control, and significantly shorten the amount of time needed for recovery.
These experiences inspired Dr Wei to reflect on the nature of acupoint theory. Through clinical exploration, a palpable distance between the theory of static points as recorded in acupuncture texts and actual practice was felt, and it became obvious that static point theory was inherently uncertain and limited; it could not be seen as an immutable law, and it would need to be continuously tested by clinical practice and developed further through application.
The next post will continue with what Dr Wei referred to as the second event in the development of his interest in dynamic points.
