Japanese Acupuncture Techniques - Magnet Therapy

Japanese Theory

Japanese Acupuncture Techniques - Magnet Therapy

Magnets may be used instead of needles on acupuncture points within a number of treatment styles. This section briefly describes the use of magnet therapy within a Japanese Acupuncture framework. The information presented below discusses basic theory behind the technique, guidelines for applying the technique and examples of clinical use. Some of the techniques listed here require significant amounts of training to be performed correctly and should only be performed by practitioners who have been trained properly.

  • General Information:
  • Red = South = Tonification, Gold, Copper
  • Black = North = Dispersion, Silver, Zinc
  • Mostly used for pain but can be used to setup polarities in extraordinary vessel treatments
  • Precautions and Contraindications:
  • Not on patients with a pacemaker
  • Not on points contraindicated during pregnancy
  • Do not retain for more than 20 minutes on the head/face
  • Do not send patients home with 10,000 gauss magnets, 800 gauss maximum
  • Do not use on cancer patients - controversial subject but it is thought that they may possibly accelerate the growth of the tumor
  • Best to not mix metals on the body except for setting up polarities
  • Magnet Therapy Techniques:
  • General Stress - North, 2500g magnet at KD 6 & South, 2500g magnet at KD 27 both bilaterally
  • Musculoskeletal Issues (select 2-4 points from the following chart using stronger magnets for 30-40 minutes/day):
Shoulders LI 15, TH 14, SI 11, TH 3, GB 34, LI 10
Elbows TH 10, LI 4, LI 11
Fingers, Hands TH 5, LI 10, TH 4, LI 5, SI 3, PC 7
Hips GB 29, GB 30, GB 34, GB 39
Knees ST 34, heding, xiyan, SP 9, GB 34, just below ST 34
Ankles ST 41, GB 40, KD 3, UB 60, GB 35, KD 8
Toes GB 35, SP 4, UB 66, just above web between the toes
Jaw SI 19, TH 17, LI 4


Sources and More Information

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

  • Birch, Stephen: New England School of Acupuncture Lecture Notes (1989) - Treatments primarily from Dr. Chen Zhi
  • Iuliano, Diane: New England School of Acupuncture, Extraordinary Vessel Techniques Lecture Notes
  • Kuwahara, Koei: New England School of Acupuncture, Advanced Japanese Techniques Lecture Notes

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