Acupuncture Point Contraindications and Precautions

Submitted by yyh_staff on Mon, 2006-05-15 16:46.

Acupuncture is a safe and effective form of medicine. Complications from the clinical application of acupuncture are extremely rare and side effects, if any, are limited. There are a number of guidelines, however, which govern the use of particular acupuncture points. A precaution may be related to use in certain conditions, with particular techniques, or because of a points location. We have listed the commonly accepted contraindications and precautions below.

Note: It is worth noting that these are general guidelines and there are cases, techniques a/or styles of acupuncture where a practitioner may still use a point or technique even if it is listed here as a precaution.

Complete List of Precautions by Meridian
Precautions for Pregnancy
Precautions for Moxibustion (moxa)
Precautions for Arteries
Sources
Additional Theory Related Resources
Discussions:
Discuss Acupuncture Theory
Precaution Key:
NDN = No Deep Needle
NPN = No Perpendicular Needle
AA = Avoid Artery
PG = Pregnancy

Complete List of Precautions by Meridian

Meridian/Point	Contraindication		Meridian/Point	Contraindication
Lung - LU			Large Intestine - LI
LU 1	NDN Toward Sternum		LI 1	No Moxa
LU 2	NDN Toward Sternum		LI 4	No Moxa, No Needle in PG
LU 3	No Moxa		LI 13	AA
LU 5	No Moxa		LI 19	No Moxa
LU 9	AA		LI 20	No Moxa
LU 11	No Moxa
		top
Pericardium - PC			Triple Heater - TH
PC 1	NDN		TH 19	AA, No Bleeding
			TH 22	AA
			TH 23	No Moxa
		top
Heart - HT			Small Intestine - SI
HT 1	AA		SI 18	No Moxa
		top
Spleen - SP			Stomach - ST
SP 6	No Needle in PG		ST 1	No Moxa, Slow Insertion, No Manipulation
SP 12	AA		ST 2	No Moxa, NDN
			ST 5	AA
			ST 8	No Moxa
			ST 9	No Moxa, AA, NDN
			ST 12	AA, NDN
			ST 13 thru ST 18	Oblique Insert Only
			ST 17	No Needle (landmark only), No Moxa
			ST 42	AA
		top
Liver - LV			Gall Bladder - GB
LV 12	No Needle		GB 1	No Moxa
LV 14	NDN		GB 3	NDN
			GB 9	No Moxa
			GB 21	No Needle in PG, No Needle w/history of heart disease
			GB 22	No Moxa
			GB 33	No Moxa
			GB 42	No Moxa
		top
KD			UB
KD 21	NDN, Avoid Liver on Right Side		UB 1	No Moxa, Slow Insertion, No Manipulation
KD 22	NDN, Avoid Heart		UB 2	No Moxa
KD 23 thru KD 27	NDN, Needle Obliquely		UB 3	No Moxa
			UB 6	No Moxa
			UB 8	No Moxa
			UB 10	No Moxa
			UB 30	No Moxa
			UB 31, 32, 33 & UB 34	No Needle in PG
			UB 40	No Moxa, not even pole
			UB 67	No Moxa, except to turn breech
		top
Conception Vessel - CV			Governing Vessel - GV
CV 2 thru CV 7	NDN in PG & NPN in advanced PG		GV 4	No Moxa in males under 20
CV 8	No Needle		GV 6	No Moxa
CV 9 thru CV 15	NPN in advanced PG		GV 15	NDN, No Moxa
			GV 16	NDN, No Moxa
			GV 22 & GV 23	No Moxa, No Needle in infants with metopism
			GV 25	No Moxa
			GV 26	No Moxa
			GV 27	No Moxa
			GV 28	No Moxa

Precautions for Pregnancy

LI 4, SP 6, GB 21
UB 31 thru UB 34
CV 2 thru CV 7 (NDN in PG, NPN in advanced PG) & CV 9 - CV 15 (NPN in advanced PG)

Precautions for Moxa

LU 3, 5, 8, 11
LI 1, 4, 19, 20
TH 23
SI 18
ST 1, 2, 8, 9
GB 1, 9, 22, 33, 42
UB 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 30, 40, 67
GV 4 (in males under 20), GV 6, 15, 16, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28

Precautions for Ateries

LU 8, LU 9
LI 13
TH 19, TH 22
HT 1
SP 12
ST 5, ST 9, ST 12, ST 42

Sources and resources for further study

There are many resources which discuss acupuncture and chinese medicine at varying levels. Our research section includes a comprehensive list of the main texts and websites related to chinese medicine. Below are the sources that were used for this section:

Ferro, Barbara: New England School of Acupuncture, Point Location I and II Lecture Notes
LaBruzzo, Cynthia: New England School of Acupuncture, TCM Theory Lecture Notes

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