An experimental observation of the impedance of human body in qigong state by detection at auricle acupuncture point

The detection of auricle acupuncture point is a noninvasive technique which used to detect the bioelectrical signal on human body surface. According to the theory of the Traditional Chinese Medicine, ear is an important part of body surface, which consists of many auricle acupuncture points for diagnosis and therapy, relating to all internal organs as well as channel and collateral (jingluo). The variations of bioelectrical signals may be detected at the auricle acupuncture points along the channel and corresponding points. The impedance contains body resistance and capacitance.

A home-made detector of auricle acupuncture point is used. It has a capability of processing instantaneous and stationary signals simultaneously. A rectangle wave signal is put on human body surface with one electrode at a auricle acupuncture point and another at the little finger which as a reference point. The output signal, including the relative variations of the body resistance and the capacitance, is displayed on an oscilloscope and recorded by a camera. From the waveform of output signal, we can know the function states of the internal interrelated with the detected points. Using the detector of auricle acupuncture point at present experiments, we have detected and recorded the body impedance waveforms of qigong masters in the qigong state and normal state as well as those of some patients.

1. Total impedance of a body: we assure that the body impedance between two little fingers can be defined as total impedance of a body which is related to the physiological characteristics of the body. The experiments show that the impedance waveforms in the qigong state are different from those in normal state. It means that the values of the resistance and the capacitance increase simultaneously in the qigong state. From the qigong state to normal state, the values of the resistance and the capacitance decrease gradually to normal levels. Otherwise, the impedance of each normal person has no variation at the same experimental conditions.

2. The correlated impedance of some internal organs: we also define that the impedance between a auricle acupuncture point and the little finger is the correlated impedance of the internal organ. Making use of the detector mentioned above, we have obtained the impedance waveforms of some internal organs from qigong masters in both qigong and normal states. Compared with normal state, the impedances vary obviously in qigong state, with same regular pattern but different values, at four auricle acupuncture points of heart, lung, kidney and brain stem. They display that the value of the resistance decreases and that of the capacitance increases, that is the corresponding impedance decreases. The variations of the impedance mean that function states of above four internal organs change in the qigong state.

3. The impedances of some patients: we have detected the impedance at the auricle acupuncture points of some patients suffering from tumors et al. The variations of the impedance have some law with that of impedance in the qigong state, that is the decrease of the impedance. The mechanism of the phenomenon that these two kinds of impedance variation have the same law, remains to be solved.

Thus, as a non-invasive technique combined with the theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the detection of auricle acupuncture point can be used for researching the physiological characteristics and the function states of the internal organs of human body in the qigong state and normal state, as well as diagnosing some diseases.