These are considered the most “superficial” of all meridians of acupuncture. They are much broader than the regular meridians and they control the tendons, muscles, and skin; however, that is not to mean that the deeper meridians do not have a stronger influence on these same systems.
This is a highly effective and easy method to treat the “branch” symptoms of pain, as most pain is due to the tendinomuscular “system;” therefore, addressing this meridian directly usually provides very quick relief from pain. It must be noted that this is NOT a “root” treatment. This treatment is geared at treating the branch (symptoms) only; therefore, this method should be applied AFTER needling for the root condition.

The technique is very simple in and of itself; however, if it is not combined with a root treatment the lasting effects will be greatly reduced. The process is to simply needle the jing-well point of the affected tendinomuscular meridian. Then the yuan-source point and convergent point of the affected meridian are needled. The practitioner must know whether to tonify or sedate these points based on the nature of the condition and root treatment being applied.
Application of needles to the local area can be applied next; however, it is often the case that local needling is not needed if the appropriate root treatment was applied with the correct application of the tendinomuscular meridian treatment.
As you can see, this treatment is very simple; however, it is rarely used by acupuncturist today. This simple technique has a wide range of applications and all acupuncturists should become very familiar with its applications.
Click on your city for directions to the clinic: Denver, Centennial CO (main map), Littleton CO, Lone Tree CO, Highlands Ranch CO, Parker CO, Castle Rock CO, Englewood CO, Cherry Hills Village CO, Denver Tech Center (DTC), Greenwood Village CO, and Aurora CO.