Most points are close to nerves. A more advanced method of acupuncture is meridian-based, where pain is evaluated with attention to what meridian it's associated with. Meridians are lines drawn on the body, connecting points associated by location on particular muscle planes. Using meridians, patients show evidence that they experience more widespread physiologic effects than with local treatments. Using meridians in different ways you can move into progressively higher levels of complexity.
Meridian activation can be the key to helping local treatments last.
Meridians can be used in many different ways, and to design a treatment plan you take into account patient characteristics aside from their pain. These other factors might become more important than the character of the pain. Back pain is one area where acupuncture literature is concentrated, but even when pain is the same, patients are different. What's interesting is that during the course of treatments, patients like this will often comment that the irritable bowel is better, or that the panic attacks are less frequent or severe. These are not easy changes to study and Dr. Lee says that patients ask her to inform colleagues of the subtle changes they experience.