Acupuncture for Herpes Zoster (Shingles) - Treatment Protocols

General Approaches

Acupuncture For Herpes Zoster (Shingles) - Treatment Protocols

Acupuncture treatment protocols are generally directed towards the deeper root of a persons set of health issues, not at each individual issue. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, treatment is generally directed towards the individuals diagnostic pattern(s) and their primary issue is only a part of the information required to approach the correct patterns to treat (see "treating the cause vs. the symptoms" for an introduction to this process.).

In designing an acupuncture protocol for shingles (herpes zoster), one might find one or a combination of the following patterns: lung wind invasion - wind heat among many other possibilities and possible combinations.

Below you will find some of the more common tcm diagnoses and acupuncture treatment protocols for herpes zoster (shingles). There are many ways to approach the treatment of this condition within TCM. Our presentation describes foundational approaches that would need to be further tailored in most cases to be effective for a given individual.

    • Herpes Zoster is treated as an overall wind-heat condition, with points then added based on the channels a/or areas effected.
    • Wind-Heat treatment points
    • Treatment according to channel(s)/area(s) effected
    • Channel/Area Related treatment points
    • Huatuojiaji treatment points
  • Wind Heat
    • Treatment Points:
      • Valaskatagis Point Selection:
      • UB 40 - clear blood heat
      • SP 10 - clear blood heat
      • LI 11 - clear heat
  • Channel/Area Related
    • Treatment Points:
      • Valaskatagis Point Selection:
      • Sides of the body, intercostal area: TH 6, GB 34, GB 41
      • Head a/or face: LI 4, LI 11, TH 5
      • Abdomen: SP 9
      • Posterior aspect of head a/or neck, back: UB 40
      • Local lesions: Insert 3-5 needles around each major skin lesion with the needles inserted obliquely, towards/under the lesion.
  • Huatuojiaji
    • Treatment Points:
      • Needle the huatuojiaji points as well as the huatuojiaji of the vertebrae above and the vertebrae below for each nerve root that is effected.

The information on our site is drawn from our own lecture notes and clinical experience. The following lecture notes were consulted within this section:

  • St. John, Meredith: New England School of Acupuncture, Etiology and Pathology Lecture Notes
  • Valaskatgis, Peter: New England School of Acupuncture, Etiology and Pathology Lecture Notes

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