Choi, Young-Chon; Lim, Chung-San; Kwon, Ki-Rok

Objective: The purpose of this study was to invigorate the use of infrared thermal imaging apparatus as a diagnostic tool in Oriental medicine by providing standard temperature on specific acupoints. Methods: Subjects for the study was recruited through an advertisement in the school homepage(www.sangji.ac.kr) explaining the objectives and methods. 100 volunteers agreeing to terms were selected and measured the full body thermal image. Common acupoints used in the clinical surrounding were chosen and final 63 acupoints were selected for the measurement. Male/female and right/left readings were obtained for the analysis. Results: Following results were obtained from analyzing the body temperature of 50 male subjects and 50 female subjects 1. Subjects participating in the study ranged from 19 years of age to 44 years. Median male age at and female age at , respectively. 2. For all acupoints, no significant differences were witnessed between the gender and right, left side of the body. 3. 10 acupoints from the facial region(18 bilateral), 8 acupoints from the chest/abdomen region(10 bilateral), 6 acupoints from the back region(11 bilateral), 17 acupoints from the upper extremity(34 bilateral), and 22 acupoints from the lower extremity(44 bilateral) were chosen. 4. In the facial region, BL2 showed the highest temperature and GV26 showed the lowest. 5. In the chest/abdomen region, CV22 showed the highest temperature and CV6 showed the lowest. 6. In the back region, GV14 showed the highest temperature and BL23 showed the lowest. 7. In the upper extremity region, jianqian(extra point) showed the highest temperature and baxie(extra point) showed the lowest. 8. In the lower extremity region, KI1 and bafeng(extra point) shoed the highest temperature and BL40 showed the lowest. Conclusions: Based on the standard body temperature measured on specific acupoints throughout the body, we hope these findings can trigger further studies on applications of infrared thermal imaging and clinical usage in the field of oriental medicine.

Thermography; thermal imaging; acupoints; thermal temperature

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