Yamamoto New Scalp Acupuncture

Introduction

In the 1960s Japanese physician Toshikatsu Yamamoto discovered an independent acupuncture system. Yamamoto presented this method, which originally consisted of five points, for the first time at a Japanese Ryodoraku Congress in Japan in 1973. For twelve years, using these highly effective points, which he termed basal points, basic or base points, he treated stroke patients suffering from pain and paralysis. Taking second place only to ear acupuncture, YNSA is today the most widely and frequently used form of acupuncture and is gaining increasing significance.

Since 1973, in addition to the basal points several other points have been discovered, namely, sensory points, brain points, Y points, extra points, treatment points on the thorax and in the region of the pubic bone, dorsal treatment points and additional peripheral points as well as various diagnostic points.

In Japan, acupuncture was largely practised by massage therapists, which meant that it was not highly regarded in classical medicine nor, in particular, at university medical schools. Interest in and receptiveness to acupuncture is gradually increasing, also at some Japanese universities.

YNSA is also used very successfully in veterinary medicine, for example to treat cats and dogs.

Methodology

The basal points are still used successfully in daily practice. Acupuncture needles are applied ipsilaterally at these basal points for pain therapy while for the treatment of central paresis they are applied contralaterally to the paretic side. YNSA is a special form of traditional acupuncture. The method is based on a somatotope on the scalp. In the same way as with ear or mouth acupuncture, the entire organism is projected here on a defined area of the scalp. The locomotor system is at the boundary of the forehead and hair, whereas the internal organs are represented via Y points on both temples. Scalp acupuncture distinguishes a yin somatotope at the front of the scalp and a yang somatotope at the back of the scalp. With the aid of special Japanese neck diagnostics, the associated Y therapy points in the temples or the corresponding cranial nerve points are revealed via pressure-sensitive points in the neck region. As a representative of each median, There is a pressure point on the neck that acts as a representative diagnostic point for each meridian and an associated treatment point in the region of the temples. If, for example, the kidney point on the neck is sensitive to pressure, the corresponding Y point on the temple is needled. If the needle is correctly positioned in the temple region, the pressure sensitivity in the neck will disappear, thus providing immediate verification for correct positioning of the needle.