review of evidence suggesting that the fascia network could be the anatomical basis for acupoints and meridians in the human body审查的证据表明筋膜网络可以解剖依据人体穴位和经脉.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2011, Article ID 260510, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2011/260510 Review Article Review of Evidence Suggesting That the Fascia Network Could Be the Anatomical Basis for Acupoints and Meridians in the Human Body Yu Bai,1 Jun Wang,2 Jin-peng Wu,1 Jing-xing Dai,1 Ou Sha,2 David Tai Wai Yew,3 Lin Yuan,1 and Qiu-ni Liang2 1 Department of Anatomy, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China 2 Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China 3 Department of Anatomy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Correspondence should be addressed to Lin Yuan, yuanl@fi Received 4 August 2010; Revised 4 February 2011; Accepted 28 February 2011 Copyright © 2011 Yu Bai et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The anatomical basis for the concept of meridians in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has not been resolved. This paper reviews the evidence supporting a relationship between acupuncture points/meridians and fascia. The reviewed evidence supports the view that the human body’s fascia network may be the physical substrate represented by the meridians of TCM. Specifically, this hypothesis is supported by anatomical observations of body scan data demonstrating that the fascia network resembles the theoretical meridian system in salient ways, as well as physiological, histological, and clinical observations. This view represents a theoretical basis and means for applying modern biomedical research to examining TCM principles and therapies, and it favors a holistic