Treatment protocols for Electro-Acupuncture

If you needle patients and have never attached leads—or you attach them and worry about doing it wrong—this book gives you the rules and the recipes. It pairs hard safety boundaries with concrete protocols: which wave for which disease, how long, how often, and when to reassess. Students get a framework; practitioners get protocols they can use Monday morning.

1. 1Chapter 1

   First Deqi, then current

   A patient lies on the table, needles placed. The book's instruction is clear about that moment: needles go in first, and only after Deqi do you connect the electric current, adjusted to what the patient can tolerate.

   The idea

   Intensity is set by patient tolerance, which makes the patient a participant in dosing rather than a passive recipient.

   Try this: This week, before switching on any current, confirm Deqi at every needled point and ask the patient to describe the sensation in their own words.

2. 2Chapter 1

   The four wires you never cross

   Free-moving needles get no current at all. Points on both sides of the heart or brain are never paired. One output line stays on one side of the body—never across the spinal cord or midline. And electrodes never span the heart region, like from a left arm point to a right arm point.

   The idea

   The rules are memorizable precisely because they're spatial: same side, never midline, never heart, never brain.

   Try this: Draw a body map and mark your clinic's no-pairing zones—across the midline, across the heart, around the brain—then post it near your EA machine.

3. 3Chapter 1

   A pacemaker, a needle at PC6, and a racing heart

   A patient with a pacemaker receives electro-acupuncture at PC6, the classic pericardium point on the inner wrist. Palpitations begin. The treatment stops immediately. The book recounts this case as a warning: patients with heart disease or epilepsy in their history, pregnant women, and pacemaker patients should use electro-acupuncture with caution or avoid it altogether.

   The idea

   Screening questions about implants, epilepsy, pregnancy, and cardiac history belong before the first needle, not after the first symptom.

   Try this: Add four screening questions to your intake form—pacemaker, heart disease, epilepsy, pregnancy—and make them a hard stop for EA.

4. 4Chapter 1

   Match the wave to the disease

   Continuous wave sedates, and at low frequency supports muscle atrophy and nerve regeneration. Discontinuous or sparse wave goes to paralysis. Dense-disperse wave handles analgesia—chronic pain and inflammation. Continuous high frequency at 100 Hz targets acute pain and itching.

   The idea

   Sedation, paralysis, chronic pain, and acute itching each map to a distinct pattern.

   Try this: Write the four wave-to-condition pairings on a card and tape it to your EA unit until selection becomes automatic.

5. 5Chapter 1

   When the patient faints: current off, needles out

   The book's sequence for needle shock is immediate and unambiguous: turn off the electric current first, then remove the needles. Lay the patient flat with the feet elevated, and give oxygen if it's available.

   The idea

   The order is the insight: stabilize by subtracting the treatment, then support the body.

   Try this: Rehearse the fainting sequence with your staff—current off, needles out, patient flat, feet up, oxygen ready—until it takes under thirty seconds.

6. 6Chapter 1

   Nine volts, two milliamps, and a gentler rule for the face

   The peak output voltage of electro-acupuncture machines is usually within a safe range (voltage should not exceed 9 volts). Current should be kept below 2 mA—and below 1 mA for facial points.

   The idea

   Dosing is regional: the same number that's conservative on the back is aggressive on the face.

   Try this: Check your machine's output specs against the 9-volt ceiling, and set a clinic rule: facial points never exceed 1 mA.

7. 7Chapter 1

   Seven to ten sessions, then look honestly at the results

   The book's answer is a structure, not a promise: a course runs 7 to 10 sessions—10 to 12 for most chronic conditions—with 1 to 3 days' rest between courses. Then reassess progress.

   The idea

   Rest between courses is part of the dose, not a gap in it.

   Try this: For your next treatment plan, write the session count and reassessment date on the chart before the first appointment.

8. 8Chapter 1

   Moxa on the handle, cups on the back—current still running

   The book describes combining electro-acupuncture with other therapies according to the condition: moxibustion applied on the needle handle while the current runs, or cupping layered onto the session.

   The idea

   The modalities are chosen by the condition, and more than one can act at once.

   Try this: Pick one returning patient this week and design a combined session—EA plus moxa or cupping—matched to their specific condition.

9. 9Chapter 2

   Melzack, Wall, and the gate that 100 Hz closes

   The book explains the Gate Control Theory of Pain in relation to electro-acupuncture, citing the work of Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall (1965). High frequency (100 Hz) works by closing the gate in the spinal cord. Low frequency (2 Hz) works through descending inhibition from the brain.

   The idea

   The spinal route and the brain route are different doors into the same problem.

   Try this: Next time you set frequency, name the mechanism out loud—gate closure or descending inhibition—and check it matches the condition.

10. 10Chapter 2

    2 Hz for enkephalins, 100 Hz for dynorphins

    Low-frequency EA at 2 to 10 Hz is believed to stimulate release of endogenous opioids—enkephalins and endorphins. At 2 Hz, the release is enkephalins and beta-endorphins. At 100 Hz, it's dynorphins.

    The idea

    When a protocol specifies 2/100 Hz dense-disperse, it's deliberately triggering both opioid systems at once.

    Try this: For one chronic-pain patient, explain in plain language why their dense-disperse setting targets two opioid systems, and watch their buy-in change.

11. 11Chapter 2

    Beta-endorphin in spinal fluid, adenosine in mouse tissue

    A study by Han (2004) showed that 2 Hz EA increased beta-endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of human subjects. A 2010 study by Goldman et al. in Nature Neuroscience showed that acupuncture at ST36 increases adenosine levels in the tissue, reducing pain in mice.

    The idea

    One study measures what flows in spinal fluid; the other finds a pain-relieving molecule in the tissue itself.

    Try this: When a patient asks whether EA is 'just placebo,' describe the adenosine study at ST36—measurable chemistry at the needled tissue.

12. 12Chapter 4

    Chronic low back pain: BL23, BL25, GB30, and the 3-session checkpoint

    The protocol prescribes needling BL23, BL25, and GB30, with a dense-disperse wave at 2/100 Hz. Intensity to tolerance, for 30 minutes, twice a week for 6 weeks. The protocol notes to reassess after 3 sessions.

    The idea

    The 3-session reassessment means neither practitioner nor patient invests six weeks in a plan that isn't working.

    Try this: Copy the low back pain protocol onto a card—points, 2/100 Hz, 30 minutes, twice weekly, 6 weeks, reassess at 3—and use it verbatim once this month.

13. 13Chapter 5

    Bell's palsy on day 3: a 52-year-old man's face comes back

    The book advises needling points on the affected face (e.g., ST4, ST6, SI18/GB14) with a sparse wave, starting 5-7 days after onset. A case is described of a 52-year-old man treated at ST4, ST6, and GB14 with a continuous wave at 2 Hz for 15 minutes starting on day 3 of symptoms. His House-Brackmann grade improved from V to II after 14 sessions over three weeks.

    The idea

    The House-Brackmann scale gives the outcome a number, which is exactly the kind of measurable endpoint the book favors.

    Try this: If you treat Bell's palsy, adopt House-Brackmann grading at intake and every reassessment so progress is a number, not an impression.

14. 14Chapter 7

    Dysmenorrhea treated before the pain arrives

    A 28-year-old woman was treated for primary dysmenorrhea; her VAS pain score was 8/10. The protocol calls for EA at SP6 and SP8 (and CV4), starting 3 days before the expected onset of menses. She was treated with a dense-disperse wave at 2/100 Hz for 30 minutes, starting 5 days before menstruation, for three cycles. Her VAS pain score decreased from 8/10 to 2/10 and she no longer needed NSAIDs.

    The idea

    The timing is the treatment: starting before the pain begins means the analgesic wave is already working when menstruation starts.

    Try this: For your next dysmenorrhea patient, schedule EA to start before the next expected period—not during the pain—and track VAS scores cycle by cycle.

15. 15Chapter 8

    Anxiety at GV20 and Yintang: a HAM-A score falls from 28 to 12

    A 38-year-old woman was treated for generalized anxiety disorder; her HAM-A score was 28. The book suggests using Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (EX-HN3) with a continuous low-frequency (2 Hz) stimulation. She was treated at HT7, PC6, and GV20 with a continuous wave at 2 Hz for 20 minutes, twice a week for eight weeks. Her HAM-A score dropped from 28 to 12.

    The idea

    A drop from 28 to 12 on the HAM-A is the kind of result a patient can see, and a referring physician can read.

    Try this: Add a standardized anxiety score—HAM-A or similar—to your intake for anxious patients, and repeat it at the end of the treatment course.

16. 16Chapter 15

    Five years of burning feet, fifteen sessions, and better sleep

    A 58-year-old male with numbness and burning in feet for 5 years, diabetic peripheral neuropathy. He was treated with EA at ST36, SP6, and Bafeng (EX-LE10) at 2/15 Hz. After 15 sessions, his Neuropathy Symptom Score decreased from 8 to 4, and sleep quality improved.

    The idea

    The outcome is tracked on a neuropathy-specific scale, not a pain score.

    Try this: For one neuropathy patient, track both a symptom score and sleep quality across the course—nighttime relief often shows up before daytime numbness budges.

17. 17Appendix

    ST36, located to the millimeter

    ST36: '3 cun below ST35, one finger-breadth lateral to the anterior crest of the tibia' (also described as 3 cun below the patella, one finger-breadth lateral to the tibial tuberosity).

    The idea

    The appendix's dual descriptions for ST36—cun from a landmark and finger-breadth from bone—let a practitioner cross-check location two ways.

    Try this: Palpate ST36 on yourself using both descriptions—3 cun below ST35 and 3 cun below the patella—and confirm they land on the same spot.

Acupuncture students and licensed practitioners who want safety rules they can memorize and protocols they can copy. Also useful for clinicians considering adding EA, since every protocol names its points, waveform, dose, and measurable outcome.

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