What is the origin of acupoint

Abstract

Acupoints originated from the ancient belief that diseases were caused by ghosts and evil spirits haunting the body. Acupoints were believed to be where the ghost and evil spirits hid, and thus, the rationale for healing was to expel the ghost and evil spirits directly from the diseased body part. Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon), an ancient Chinese medical text, mentions "pain as the point" in describing how to locate and manipulate the acupoint. During the era in which Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) was written, the wide applications of filiform needle acupuncture expedited the amalgamation between acupoint and meridian theories. As a result, the concept of acupoints were further strengthened and expanded in their structures and functions. In the meantime, acupoints had developed to become the key points for qi and blood circulating inside the human body rather than where evil spirits hid. The formation and finalization of acupoints actually reveal a historical progression from witchcraft to medicine. © 2012 Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.