Wellness Is In Your Hands!
A 2-Minute Introduction to Korean Hand Therapy Using Acupuncture
Almost everyone is acquainted with acupressure or acupuncture: both are based on the stimulation or sedation of certain points in the body that lie on energy channels called meridians. While acupuncture uses thin needles, acupressure relies on just that – pressure, applied through a variety of means – to achieve a similar result, the rebalancing of the body.
But not many people know that the meridian channels that guide these protocols have also been mapped from the entire body onto the hand. The system that uses these hand maps for treatment, instead of the traditional full-body maps, is called Korean Hand Therapy or KHT. Because it uses just the hand to impart the same results as a full-body treatment, KHT is known as a “microsystem.” Those results can include balancing the organs of the body, creating a calming effect on the sympathetic nervous system, and helping to increase cerebral blood flow.
Introducing audiences to Korean Hand Therapy has been one of my favorite topics when making a presentation to corporations or non-profits, or when teaching its use as an adjunct faculty member to a more advanced class at a local acupuncture college. Regardless of the audience, however, the pattern of the interaction is usually very similar: I will explain a bit about KHT, its putative origins, and a few supportive studies; then, I’ll introduce a few KHT hand acupoint locations and protocols; finally, I’ll do a short demonstration, first asking for a volunteer whose experiencing some minor discomfort - a headache, for example (the number of hands that raise at this point is usually a good indication of that group’s communal stress level ). Inevitably, whoever is participating in the KHT treatment feels their headache discomfort reduce, and in some cases, completely subside.
There are many ways to apply pressure to a specific KHT acupoint: a finger or pellets can be used or, my preference, bio-marked magnets. Acupressure for KHT normally requires pressing via a thumb or fingertip on a specific area or acupoint for a therapeutic effect on the whole body. Bio-marked magnets are simply small strong magnets that have been marked with their north and south poles. The advantage of either approach is that they can be used outside of a clinic or office setting, and, with proper instruction, applied by the client. Discomfort tends to surface at inappropriate times and venues – at night, when traveling, before an important appointment. The fact that the treatment area is a hand, and that the method of applying the treatment is equally small (a finger or magnet) and equally portable, makes this an especially valuable tool. Check out the testimonials section under magnet therapy in this website to learn more about the KHT magnet therapy experience: https://vitalityfusion.com/testimonials
But maybe the most obvious advantage of this overall approach for both clients and practitioners is that it does not require needles: there are “needle-adverse” people who can now enjoy the benefits of painless Meridian Medicine, and there are practitioners who can now give their clients self-application “homework” to supplement and extend the benefits of any in-person treatment.
It turns out that with just a little bit of knowledge about the KHT microsystem and some directed practice, the path to wellness can be illumined to be precisely where it has always been – in your own hands.