"Electro-Acupuncture Biofeedback"

"Acupuncturists say the body is made up of invisible energy channels (meridians)- each associated with different organs in the body. Along these meridians are hot spots, called acupuncture points, where the energy can be measured and manipulated. During electroacupunture biofeedback, (which is also called electroacupuncture according to Voll -or EAV) practitioners measure this energy emitted at these points with special instruments. They measure this energy in terms of electrical conductivity, that is, how easily electrons flow at any given point.

"Advocates of this approach say that if you are normal and healthy electrical conductivity is lower at acupuncture points than elsewhere in the body. Abnormally high or low readings mean that the corresponding organ isn't working right maybe due to disease, infections, toxins or food allergies.

"Ideally, this kind of screening can help nip serious illness in the butt and maybe cut health care costs in the process. No one really knows for sure whether it really can -yet. Even so, this technique is widely practiced in Europe and Japan and is used experimentally in the United States."

"Acupuncture points are points on the skin, usually located on meridians, where the circulation of chi can be manipulated.

By stimulating an acupuncture point on the skin through pressure, suction, heat, or needle insertion, the circulation of chi is affected, which in turn affects related internal organs. But this is not the only way to take advantage of the meridian system. The meridian energy flow also carries with it information about internal organs that can be used in diagnosis. This is the basis of the electrodermal screening test (EDST). The device used in the EDST is the electrodermal screening device, or EDSD, which works by measuring electrical resistance and polarization at acupuncture points and meridians. Through these safe, skin-level measurements, it is possible to analyze the bio-energy and bio-information produced by internal organs and systems."

"Voll's machine acts as a system of diagnosis in that it tells the acupuncturist which points, and therefore which organs, are diseased. It can also be used to make quite specific diagnoses as slight differences in the charge of the point indicate different types of disease processes."

"Abstract: EAV(Electroacupuncture According to Voll) has shown that each acupuncture point bears a direct relationship to a specific anatomical structure or physiological function in the body. An electronic apparatus was designed to quantitatively measure the electrical activity at each of these points which directly infers the functional status of the structure or disease process in question. A serendipitous discovery showed that when medicine is introduced into the electric circuit during point measurements, the medicine, if correctly chosen, will change the reading values to a more normal level. Furthermore, not only can the correct medicine be accurately established, but also the most appropriate potency or dosage as well, resulting in an optimal approach. Many hundreds of EAV physicians throughout the world now work on a daily basis with EVA medicine testing to the advantage of their patients. The scientific validity of EAV and medicine testing has been firmly established over the past quarter century and a number of laboratory experiments are outlined to substantiate and corroborate this exciting advance in medicine."

"In the 1960's Dr. Reinhold Voll painstakingly measured skin resistance values on thousands of patients, verifying lowered resistance values for classical acupoints plus hundreds of other lowered resistance points."

"Electrodermal screening (EDS) is a form of electro-acupuncture biofeedback which gathers information based on physics not chemistry. A noninvasive electric probe is placed on specific acupuncture meridian points along the fingers and toes which measures the energy of specific organs, tissues, and systems of the body. Minute electrical discharges of the body serve as information signals about the condition of the body's organs, tissues, and systems. The imbalances that are found can correspond to present illness or future disease and exact homeopathic or nutritional remedies can be found to restore the disturbed energy flow. Presently a computer is utilized and the technique referred to as Computerized Stress Analysis."

"There are some variations in the construction and performance of EDSDs, but all share the same basic design (Fig. 5). The core of the EDSD is an ohm meter designed to deliver approximately 10-12 microamperes of direct electrical current at 1-1.25 volts, a perfectly safe amount. (The ionization potential of hydrogen atoms is 1.36 volts; only at this level and above could any physical damage occur.) On the majority of the devices the meter is calibrated to read from 0 to 100 such that the standard skin resistance of 100 kilo-ohms reads 50. The minimum value of zero represents infinite resistance (no electrical conductivity), and the maximum value of 100 indicates zero resistance at the given voltage and amperage. Some of the devices use a range of 0 to 200, with 100 being normal skin resistance. [12]

"The EDSD testing probe consists of an insulated body with a tip of brass or silver connected to the positive side of the circuit. The examiner holds the probe by the insulated body and presses the tip against the measurement point of the patient (fig. 6). The negative side of the circuit is connected to a hand electrode made of brass tubing, which is held by the patient in one hand. "

"Through electrophysical measurements at accurately located anatomical points on the skin, the current state and the regulation dynamics of systems and subsystems of the human body are recorded and any malfunction and blocking of independent regulation mechanism determined. Resonance coupling detects the factors that interfere with the information transfer of the regulation systems and which constitute the actual causes of illnesses in the cybernetic sense. The purpose of the Medical System Therapy EAV is the recreation of the body's capacity for physiological regulation. The specifically required remedy is then selected through the resonance phenomena during the measurement."