Thermographic Diagnosis for Curative Effect of Acupuncture and Qi-gong

Thermographic technique can be used to measure temperature distribution of bo d y surface in real-time, non-contact and full-field, which has been successful ly used in medical diagnosis, remote sensing, and NDT, etc. The authors have develo ped a thermographic experiment that can be applied to inspect the effect of acti on of acupuncture and qi-gong (a system of deep breathing exercises) by measuri n g the temperature of hand and arm. The observation is performed respectively by thermography for the dynamic changes of temperature of the arm and hand after ac upuncture treatment and qi-gong treatment. Thermographic results show that the t emperature on the collateral channels increases significantly. In the meantime, it can be seen that the above therapies of traditional Chinese medicine can stim ulate the channel collateral system. This also contributes a new basis to the ef fect of action of the therapies of traditional Chinese medicine. The work shows that thermographic technique is a powerful tool for research in traditional Chin ese medicine. In this paper, some thermal images are obtained from the persons t reated with acupuncture and qi-gong.