Electro-acupuncture according to Voll

154 Pages·2015·2.13 MB·English

Electro-acupuncture according to Voll
A Modern Acupuncture System

Arnaldo Oliveira, Dipl. O.M., Ph.D., L.Ac.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Acupuncture
and Oriental Medicine Oregon College of Oriental Medicine

August 15, 2015

© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 1
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

These last eighteen years of my live have been an amazing journey, from leaving Brazil as a
well-known and established facial-trauma surgeon to completing this doctoral program in
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I would like to give special thanks Dr. Beth Burch and Dr.
Zhaoxue Lu who have given their very best to this program. A heartfelt appreciation is due to my
classmates who have become close friends. Special thanks are due to my teachers at the Institute of
Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Honolulu and at the Oregon College of Oriental
Medicine in Portland. I am grateful to my patients who have supported my academic endeavor.
Special thanks goes to Dr. Heiner Fruehauf who not only accepted the challenge of mentoring a
capstone project such as this but also offered support and valuable suggestions. I am specially
grateful and indebted to my master, mentor, and friend Fred M. K. Lam, MD who taught me
everything I know in Electro-acupuncture according to Voll. He invested and believed in me. I was
blessed to be with him almost every day for a short period of 15 years. I will be forever thankful for
having been guided and trained by him. My eternal gratitude goes to my wife Claudia and daughters
Julia and Isabella who endured my absence for a few days every month for two years when I had to
leave them in Hawaii to attend the doctoral modules in Oregon. Finally, I thank God, through His
Son Jesus Christ, for hope, love and faith throughout my life. All that I am and have belong to Him.

© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 2
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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................4

BACKGROUND...........................................................................................................................................................7

ELECTRICITY..........................................................................................................................................................10

BASIC ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT..........................................................................................................................................11

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SKIN..................................................................................................14

ELECTRO-ACUPUNCTURE ACCORDING TO VOLL................................................................................19

MEDICINE TESTING.....................................................................................................................................................................23

ACUPUNCTURE POINTS AND CHANNELS IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE.................28

CHANNELS IN ELECTRO-ACUPUNCTURE ACCORDING TO VOLL...........................................................32

LYMPH CHANNEL....................................................................................................................................................................33

LUNG CHANNEL.......................................................................................................................................................................39

LARGE INTESTINE CHANNEL...........................................................................................................................................44

NERVE DEGENERATION CHANNEL..............................................................................................................................49

CIRCULATION CHANNEL....................................................................................................................................................54

ALLERGY CHANNEL...............................................................................................................................................................59

ORGAN DEGENERATION CHANNEL.............................................................................................................................63

TRIPLE WARMER CHANNEL..............................................................................................................................................68

HEART CHANNEL.....................................................................................................................................................................72

SMALL INTESTINE CHANNEL............................................................................................................................................78

PANCREAS CHANNEL............................................................................................................................................................82

SPLEEN CHANNEL...................................................................................................................................................................86

LIVER CHANNEL.......................................................................................................................................................................91

ARTICULAR DEGENERATION CHANNEL...................................................................................................................95

STOMACH CHANNEL.............................................................................................................................................................99

FIBROID DEGENERATION CHANNEL.......................................................................................................................104

SKIN CHANNEL.......................................................................................................................................................................108

FATTY DEGENERATION CHANNEL............................................................................................................................112

GALLBLADER CHANNEL...................................................................................................................................................115

KIDNEY CHANNEL................................................................................................................................................................120

URINARY BLADDER CHANNEL.....................................................................................................................................124

CASE STUDIES......................................................................................................................................................128

CASE 1...........................................................................................................................................................................................128

CASE 2...........................................................................................................................................................................................136

Case 2.1........................................................................................................................................................................................138

Case 2.2........................................................................................................................................................................................139

Case 2.3........................................................................................................................................................................................140

Case 2.4........................................................................................................................................................................................141

Case 2.5........................................................................................................................................................................................141

CASE 3...........................................................................................................................................................................................142

REFERENCE:.........................................................................................................................................................146

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INTRODUCTION

Electro-dermal testing involves measuring bioelectric impedance of acupuncture points in
response to changes in the physiological functions of organs and structures of the body.
Electro-dermal testing also evaluates bioelectric impedance of acupuncture points when
substances such as medicines, herbs, supplements, and homeopathics are placed in the same
electrical circuit with the patient. Electro-acupuncture according to Voll (EAV), an electro
dermal testing method, can be a valuable tool in clinical practice because of its safety,
noninvasive nature, cost-effectiveness, and clinical-diagnostic value. In addition, EAV, as a
systems approach, is a simple method with holistic capabilities that helps practitioners to
identify and treat complex diseases that may involve a number of cofactors such as
environmental toxins, viruses, bacteria, food sensitivities, and so forth.

Conventional medicine is based on the reductionistic premise that views the human body as
an assembly of different small parts. Modern medical diagnosis is generally strategized by
isolating the broken components of the system; therefore, the medical interventions can
target the single manifestations of diseases in a piecemeal approach. For instance, in cases of
edema, the treatment is the use of diuretics; in tumors, the care is excision; for hypertension,
one of the therapies is to block enzymes, inflammation can be suppressed by steroids.
Although this approach has been very successful in saving lives, it has not been valuable in
providing cost-effective and lasting cures to complex problems such as cancer, diabetes,
asthma, Parkinson’s, autoimmune diseases, and many other chronic ailments.

© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 4
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In biomedical treatments, the main focus is on the disease and its symptoms to the detriment
of the person affected by it. Therefore, in conventional care, symptoms and risk factors are
individually addressed. However, centering on the disease and its manifestations not only is
inadequate but also excludes how important other factors such as lifestyle, the environment,
comorbidities, and stress can be conducive to disease.

Opposed to being reductionistic, EAV allows practitioners to work under the prism of a
systems perspective. A Systems Approach offers means to analyze the characteristics of a
problem in a holistic fashion instead of isolating the parts of a complex problem. In a simple
way, EAV helps shifting the focus from the component parts to the whole by highlighting a
number of possibilities in terms of pathogenic signals that may affect homeostasis and cause
disease. Once a multiparameter evaluation is completed, treatments can be designed to
address all the detected pathogenic signals. In EAV, the center is the patient not the disease.

Finally, EAV should be fully incorporated in the practice of Oriental Medicine as a new
system of diagnosis and treatment. For the last few decades, complex health problems have
posed difficult challenges for both patients and practitioners. Individuals are constantly being
exposed to environmental toxins that are in the water, food, and in the air. So how should
these complexities be addressed by any practitioner? Is there a method that can explain how
the pieces create the whole?

The answers to these questions may come from a relatively modern acupuncture method
called Electro-acupuncture according to Voll. EAV was conceived to address the new
© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 5
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realities of disease complexities that are becoming more prevalent nowadays. EAV is a
modern acupuncture system that offers new strategies to be added to an arsenal that has not
evolved much through time.

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BACKGROUND

Electricity and medicine go long ways. Approximately in 2750 BC, according to archeological
evidence, physicians in Egypt used electricity produced by malapterurus electricus, an electric fish,
for treating pain. Circa 43 AD, Scribonious Largus, a court physician to the Roman emperor
Claudius, employed the common torpedo, Torpedo torpedo, a Mediterranean electric ray, to treat
headaches and gout, among other ailments.1 In Europe during the 1740’s, physicians such as
Christian Gottlieb Krazenstein and Jean-Etienne Deshais published a series of works on the use of
electricity in medicine.2, 3 In America, Benjamin Franklin, during the 1750’s, treated many patients
with electricity by using an electrostatic generator and a Leyden jar.4 In 1775, Alesandro Volta
invented the electrophorus, the precursor of capacitors.5, 6 In the late Eighteenth century, scientists
such as Luigi Galvani and Charles Le Roy led the way in terms of delineating the fundamentals of
modern electrophysiology.5,7 In 1794, Volta built the first battery.2
The Nineteenth century was fertile ground for medical uses of electricity as well. In France,
Duchenne de Boulogne became a pioneer in faradization.8 In America, Beard and Rockwell
promoted the application of mild electric current for treating neurasthenia.5 In 1827, George Simon
Ohm formulated a mathematical equation that described the relationship between voltage, current
and resistance, which became known as the Ohm’s Law.9,10 In the mid 1880’s Ludwig and Waller
discovered that the heart’s electrical stimuli could be detected and monitored from the skin.11 In the
beginning of the Twentieth century, in 1901, Willem Einthoven invented the EKG machine.1, 6, 11
Presently electro-acupuncture has become a broad term encompassing a number of procedures
involving traditional Chinese acupuncture and electronic devices.12 However, the combined use of
electricity and acupuncture needles was probably first implemented by a Japanese physician named
Gennai Hiragain in the late 1700’s who utilized a static electricity generator, a device he called
© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 7
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Erekiteru, connected to acupuncture needles.1, 13 From Hiragain’s electrostatic generator to the
advent of Electro-acupuncture according to Voll, several physicians and scientists contributed with
valuable research and hard work.

It was not until the end of the Nineteenth century that without the assistance of any electrical device,
Weihe was able to make a very interesting association between Oriental and Western medicines. He
discovered that particular homeopathic remedies were strongly connected to specific tender
acupoints in the body.14 Weihe was able to locate approximately one hundred and ninety-seven
points, some of them equivalent to traditional Chinese acupoints. The homeopathic remedies
associated with the tender points were then prescribed for treating a broad array of disorders.
However, in 1932, Roger de la Fuye, a homeopath and acupuncturist, postulated the existence of
physiological relationships between acupuncture points, homeopathic remedies, and diseases, a
theory that became known as Homeosiniatry.15 De la Fuye improved Weihe’s method not only by
highlighting the correlation between some of Weihe’s points and traditional Chinese acupoints, but
also by impregnating acupuncture needles with homeopathic remedies prior to needling patients.15 In
addition De la Fuye promoted the use of electro-acupuncture, with a device that he called the
Diathermopuncteur, in order to enhance the efficacy of his treatments.16 The contributions of both
Weihe and De la Fuye were sine qua non for the discovery and development of the Voll’s method.
In one of his books16, Voll acknowledged the importance of De la Fuye, and the excerpt below
summarizes Voll’s account:

The word of “Electro-Acupuncture” was first coined by the
French acupuncturist Dr. Roger de la Fuye in Paris. He
combined an electric device (Diathermopuncteur) with the
inserted needle in order to apply on certain points of the skin –
the so-called acupuncture points – as an additional therapeutic
stimulus a diathermia-current lasting 1/8 to 2 seconds via the
inserted needle Electro-acupuncture Primer, Werner & Voll,
1979, p.28).

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In 1953, Voll and Werner designed a needleless electro-acupuncture instrument that they first called
“electropuncteur.” However, after De la Fuye’s objection, Voll and Werner renamed the device as
K+F Diatherapuncteur (the “K” & “F” stand for the manufacturer’s name Kraiss & Friz
company).1,16,17 The machine was primarily designed to locate acupoints. After studying the
instrument for over two years, Voll discovered additional acupoints and their relationship with
internal organs and the phenomenon of medicine testing.16(p850),18, 19, 20, 21

Nonetheless, because the K+F Diatherapuncteur, or the EAV machine, consists of an ohmmeter and
measures skin resistance, first it is appropriate to review some basic scientific concepts such as
Electricity, the Law of Charge, Electrical Circuits, and Ohm’s Law. Second, it also is important to
review the current literature on the electrical properties of the skin, skin conductance and resistance,
and electrical characteristics of acupuncture points. Finally, the theoretical structure of
Electro-acupuncture according to Voll will be analyzed and Voll’s points will be described.

© Arnaldo Oliveira, PhD LAc 2015 9
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ELECTRICITY

The universe is filled with matter, which is made of molecules. Molecules are made of particles such
as protons, neutrons, and electrons: the three components of any atom.6, 9 One of the most basic
properties of electrons, protons, and neutrons is their electrical charges. Electrons are negative,
protons are positive, and neutrons are neutral.10 For instance, the so-called electromagnetic force that
interacts between protons and electrons is what holds atoms together and causes atoms to combine
into molecules. Protons and neutrons are made of still smaller particles called Quarks.22 However,
electrons have no known components and are considered elementary particles belonging to the
Leptons group of particle in the Standard Model. Electrons participate in physical phenomena, such
as electricity, magnetism, and thermal conductivity.10, 22
Although, atoms are composed of many different particles the focus here is on the negatively
charged electrons, positively charged protons, and neutrally charged neutrons. Protons and neutrons
compose the nucleus, and the electrons orbit around nuclei. The number of protons and electrons in
an atom is equal, which creates an electric equilibrium between the negative and positive charges.10
Atoms can stay electrically stable. However, external energy can disrupt the atomic structure by
attracting or expelling electrons and creating an electric charge. An atom becomes a positive ion
when it loses an electron, whereas it changes into a negative ion when it gains an electron. 9, 10
Ionization is an essential concept in electricity,6 which it will lead next to the discussion to the Law
of Charges.
Simply, the Law of Charges states that like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each
other.23 This repelling and attracting phenomenon occurs because ionized atoms create a surrounding
field of force, the electrostatic field or dielectric field. The field can be either negative or positive
depending on the charge of the ionized atom.24 Electrostatic fields of unlike charged bodies have
attractive forces because of the flow of electrons from the negative to the positive ions. This flow of
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