Meridian (Chinese medicine)
The meridian system (simplified Chinese: 经络; traditional Chinese: 經絡; pinyin: jīngluò, also called channel network) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concept that alleges meridians are paths through which the life-energy known as "qi" (ch'i) flows.[1]
This article is about the concept in traditional Chinese medicine. For other uses, see meridian (disambiguation).Meridians are not real anatomical structures: scientists have found no evidence that supports their existence.[2] One historian of medicine in China says that the term is "completely unsuitable and misguided, but nonetheless it has become a standard translation."[3] Major proponents of their existence have not come to any consensus as to how they might work or be tested in a scientific context.
Scientific view of meridian theory[edit]
Scientists have found no evidence that supports their existence.[2] The historian of medicine in China Paul U. Unschuld adds that there "is no evidence of a concept of 'energy' -- either in the strictly physical sense or even in the more colloquial sense -- anywhere in Chinese medical theory." [11]
Some advocates of traditional Chinese medicine believe that meridians function as electrical conduits based on observations that the electrical impedance of a current through meridians is lower than other areas of the body. A 2008 review of studies found that the studies were of poor quality and could not support the claims.[12]
Some proponents of the Primo Vascular System propose that the putative primo vessels, very thin (less than 30 μm wide) conduits found in many mammals, may be a factor explaining some of the suggested effects of the meridian system.[13][14]
According to Steven Novella, neurologist involved in the Skeptical movement, "there is no evidence that the meridians actually exist. At the risk of sounding redundant, they are as made up and fictional as the ether, phlogiston, Bigfoot, and unicorns."[1]
The National Council Against Health Fraud concluded that "[t]he meridians are imaginary; their locations do not relate to internal organs, and therefore do not relate to human anatomy."[15]