What Cartographers and Acupuncturists Have in Common — Mapping What Can’t Be Seen

Cartographers and acupuncturists both map locations that can’t be seen. Cartographers map out areas on the surface of the Earth, while acupuncturists map out areas within the human body.

The earliest cartographers mapped a world they could not see in its entirety. Their maps were based on the accounts of travellers to these destinations, as well as their own inferences regarding what lay beyond these areas. The accuracy of these maps was often imperfect compared to those drawn today; however, the maps functioned well enough for people who were travelling to those locations.

Acupuncturists have been performing these tasks in a similar position for two thousand years.

The meridian system was mapped based upon observations of the effects of stimulating certain points upon the body’s surface. These observations were made over centuries by professionals of Chinese medicine who found that stimulating certain points resulted in reactions in locations with no apparent anatomical connection to those points. So, the maps of these points were drawn in relation to the functions of the body before understanding why these functions occurred. For Acupuncture Gloucester, contact www.purelandsacu.co.uk/acupuncture-gloucester/

Modern neuroscience explains the effectiveness of acupuncture. The correspondence of acupuncture points to locations of high nerve density, fascial planes, and connective tissue structures reveals a physiological basis for the ancient maps created by the professionals of acupuncture.

The cartographers mapped the coastlines before satellite imaging, confirming their maps’ accuracy. The acupuncturists mapped the body’s functional relationships before neuroscience developed tools to investigate those relationships.