Is it not possible to categorize points and arrange them grpoupwise according to their properties, like the group of points that ‘move the qi’ in case of stagnation, and/or, group of points that 'tonifies the Yang/Yin, in a specific organ, meridian or the whole body, or group of points that ‘removes the damp(Cold/Heat)’, and so on?. I think that will be a very attractive and helpful project.
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
You mean, like how they are on our meridian disharmonies pages - for example, the kidney disharmony page?
Herbs are grouped by functional properties, for example, “herbs that cool the blood”.
The primary reason acupuncture points are not grouped that way is because they are not used that way in most cases. That is, taking someone with liver qi stagnation and just using a bunch of moving points because they say they move qi stagnation. Even in the case of herbs you have primary herbs that would, for example, move stagnation, but then you build the formula up to target it and control it. Acupuncture points are very similar in the sense that there are pairs of points that work better together than alone but they would most often be from different groupings if you grouped them that way.
There are what are called empirical points, such as ST 40 for phlegm, that are the most commonly used points for general categories. But they are not always appropriate and when building a treatment plan more goes into the equation than choosing from a list. Most of the empirical points would be common knowledge amongst practitioners so taking the extra time to group them that way would be not that helpful clinically.
That said, if someone wanted to put together a list and they found it helpful I would be happy to look it over and possibly post it on the site for others to use.
Comment by Archived User
Thank you so much for the kind reply.I hope someone would take the pain of setting the points having specific qualities in groups, such as those are done in ‘Point Categories’. They may not always work in the same way all the time. Like, as stated in respect of the Mother & Child Points over the YYH postings, that all the Mother points do not have the expected tonifying effect as theoretically expected , yet the grouping is there for academic purposes. My proposal is to arrange the points having specific properties in groups and display those for academic purpose only, even if they do not respond, as you said, always in the same manner.Hope I am clear enough in my explanation.Thank you again for your prompt reply.Best regardsM.Mayeenul Islam (Munna)