Acupuncture Styles: European Acupuncture

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Acupuncture Styles: European Acupuncture
By Jake Paul Fratkin, OMD
Acupuncture-Schools.us

There are uniquely European approaches to acupuncture that are worth mentioning, even though I do not practice them. Looking at these systems explains some of the other acupuncture trends (besides Chinese and Japanese styles described above) currently available in the United States.

The French embraced acupuncture early in the 20th century, and medical doctors continue to make a specialty of it. There are three or four major schools there, most of which were inspired by Nguyen Van Nghi in the 1960s and 70s. Van Nghi (pronounced Van Ghee) came as an 18 year old to Marseille to study medicine, but he brought along classical texts from his native Vietnam. Basically self-taught, he created a system that specialized in secondary channel treatments. His most authentic follower in France is Dr. Tran Viet Tzung, but Van Nghi had other students who developed their own systems.

Dr. Mossad, a French Algerian, created a system of acupuncture dependent for diagnosis and point location on the original eight trigrams from the Yi Jing (I Ching). He passed his system on to Dr. Joseph Helms, an American who went on to create and lead the medical acupuncture movement in the United States, taught at UCLA. It is curious that American medical doctors wishing to study acupuncture for simple symptom control or treatment of musculoskeletal problems end up in this system, a very philosophical and complicated acupuncture approach. One would hope that other avenues of medical acupuncture will also emerge, such as TCM (see Chinese Acupuncture) or even a strict neurophysiological approach such as that advocated by Dr. Yuntiao Ma.

Other French approaches include the constitutional system of Yves Requena and the ear system developed by Nogier. RequenaÌs system takes a medical diagnosis such as glaucoma or hypertension, and then divides treatment according to six constitutional types. The constitutional types are determined by personality profile and hand morphology. It is a very effective and clever system, but has few practitioners in the United States. The Nogier ear system uses over one hundred acupoints strictly on the ear, corresponding to various physiological or anatomical locations of the body. It is quite popular in France, with some dedicated followers in the United States. The Chinese actually borrowed from Nogier and added ear acupuncture to TCM.

All told, one survey found 20% of French medical doctors practicing some form of acupuncture in their clinics on at least a part time basis.

The most enduring of several acupuncture systems that have emerged in England is Five Element acupuncture. Developed by J.R. Worsley, originally a physical therapist, this system borrows point choices from classical Nan Jing acupuncture (see Japanese Acupuncture). Five Element acupuncture has a loyal if not cult-like following, both among patients and practitioners, and is helpful for promoting constitutional health and treating emotional dysfunction. Unfortunately, as a medical approach, most practitioners are unable or unwilling to look beyond their system at broader acupuncture or naturopathic methods for facilitating symptom and disease control.