THE TWELVE MUSCLE REGIONS AND TWELVE CUTANEOUS REGIONS

The muscle regions and cutaneous regions are the sites where the qi and blood of the meridians nourish the muscles, tendons and skin. Similar to the twelve regular meridians, they are also divided into three hand yin and three hand yang, three foot yin and three foot yang. The muscle regions are deeply distributed under the skin, while the cutaneous regions are located in the superficial layers of the skin. As cutaneous regions cover an extensive area, they are generally known as cutaneous regions of six meridians.

The Twelve Muscle Regions

The twelve Muscle Regions, the conduits which distribute the qi and blood of the twelve regular meridians to nourish the muscles, possess the function of connecting all the bones and joints of the body and maintaining the normal range of motion. The distribution is described as follows :

The Muscle Regions originate from the extremities of the limbs and ascend to the head and trunk, but do not reach zang and fu organs. Thus, they are not related to the zang - fu organs, and flow of qi and blood. The three yang Muscle Regions of the foot are distributed in the anterior, lateral and posterior aspects of the trunk, all connecting with the eyes ; the three yin Muscle Regions of the foot connect with the genital region ; the three yang Muscle Regions of the hand connect with the angle of forehead ; the three yin Muscle Regions of the hand connect with the thoracic cavity. In the treatment of diseases, the Muscle Regions are mainly indicated in muscular problems, such as the Bi syndrome, contracture, stillness, spasm and muscular atrophy. In Chapter 13 of Miraculous Pivot, it says, " Where there is pain, there is an acupoint. " That means muscle problems can be treated by needling the local points.

• The Lung
• The Large intestine
• Stomach
• Spleen
• The Heart
• The small intestine
• Bladder
• Kidney
• The Pericardium
• The Sanijao
• Gallbladder
• Liver