Meridians: Emergent Lines of Shape Control

Abstract

The Chinese concept of meridians has proved to be resistant to a bioscience understanding. Many investigative techniques and technologies have been applied to the human body in the search for a material substrate that is meridian-like. Using evolutionary biomechanics and embryology, the author has constructed a new model of human movement. The model, called 'Contractile Fields', has flexion/extension, side-bending, twisting, squeezing, limb, and visceral fields of contractility. That model was then turned towards the enigmatic meridians mapped over 2000 years ago in China. Recoil from a noxious stimulus is a reflex that all animals develop as a way of avoiding hurt. Acupuncture and moxibustion can elicit this reflex. Lines emerge on the body-wall and limbs that elicit similar biomechanical recoil vectors. The neurophysiology of recoil allied to the concept of 'border control' predicts 12 + 2 meridians as being the theoretical minimum needed to predictably control subtle human shape. Shape and function are closely coupled. Meridians are hypothesised to be 'emergent lines of shape control'.