Acupuncture Point Laterality: Evidence and Perspective

Background: In the Yellow Emperor Neijing, it is stated that ‘if someone has a disease related with the left side, the treatment point is on the right side, and vice versa' [Unschuld PU: Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen, 2003], which emphasizes that specific lateral-side acupoint stimulation might lead to therapeutic advantages under specific conditions. Methods: We summarize the different effects resulting from namesake acupoint stimulation referred to as acupoint laterality. In this short review, the evidence of acupoint lateralization from Neiguan (PC6), Hegu (LI4), and Quchi (LI11) is discussed. Results and Conclusion: Investigations indicate that acupuncture at the contralateral side of PC6 has different effects on heart rate variability (HRV), which means that PC6 has laterality. However, such a difference in HRV could not be observed when the same stimulation was applied to both sides of LI4, although the difference in blood perfusion distribution was confirmed exactly. Considering the results from PC6, we hypothesize that acupoint laterality might be related to acupoint specificity. Although the evidence is not clear, our results indicate that in patients with hypertension, different-side LI11 stimulation can also produce different results, which might indicate that acupoint laterality is associated with the functional state of subjects. The perspective of acupoint lateralization is also preliminarily discussed in this review. i 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel