SI 11 - Our Celestial Ancestors? - need for dialogue

Small Intestine 11 (also known as The Celestial Ancestors from the Chinese) in ‘acupuncture’ language – apparently something else to physios – I discovered this in dialogue with my physio last week, and I find it really interesting.  What it is is that at least some of the special pressure points which we learn in shiatsu training are also learned by conventional medicine, as physiotherapy is now considered.

I think my physio also mentioned that GB21 (Shoulder Well) on the shoulder was the ‘trap point’.  There may well be others, and to be honest I would love to know what they are, and how they map onto each other, and how the locations are described.  For example, GB21 is halfway from C7 and the edge of the shoulder – I wonder how physios would describe this location? [go on, if you’re a physio reading this, please let me/us know!].

As I’m thinking about it the physio, who is also an acupuncture practitioner, also mentioned Large Intestine 4 (Great Eliminator) – another really important point in shiatsu practice – as being the same as one used within physiotherapy practice.

I notice that I’m both surprised and unsurprised.  I do think I was surprised when I first discovered about GB21 in an earlier physiotherapy session.  However, I also of course not surprised – if it works, it’s likely to be discovered several times within different cultures presumably – but somehow I wonder how the Chinese discovered them, presumably without the benefit of seeing dissection, which could help with muscle understanding.

mm, a puzzle – do add your two penn’orth of you have any thoughts.

Catherine.