Accuracy of acupuncture point location among first-year acupuncture students: A pilot study evaluating the impact of training and use of an adjustable ruler

Abstract

Background The proportional method of acupuncture point location (APL) currently taught at Endeavor College of Natural Health and advocated by the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) was found to be imprecise and/or inaccurate in previous student studies. The ruler and elastic methods of APL were identified as more accurate or precise than the proportional method of APL but were not well received by student participants. Use of an adjustable ruler may overcome barriers to uptake of the more accurate APL methods. This pilot study was the first to evaluate the comparative accuracy of the adjustable ruler and the proportional methods of APL in first-year students at a major Australian acupuncture training college. Methods After 10 weeks of in-class instruction in both proportional and adjustable ruler methods of APL, student participants (n = 14) attempted location of three acupuncture points (LI10, SP6 and ST38) on a volunteer using both APL methods of interest. A self-administered questionnaire and lecturer field notes elucidated attitudes to implementation of both APL methods. Results Points marked using the adjustable ruler were closer to the correct location than those marked using the proportional method across all three acupuncture points. Students and lecturers rated the adjustable ruler more highly than the proportional method for ease of learning and ease of use. Conclusion Encouraging results with the adjustable ruler method warrant further larger scale studies. Use of the adjustable ruler method of APL should be considered for use in point location training at educational institutions teaching traditional acupuncture.