Overview of Collateral Meridian Therapy in Pain Management: A Modified Formulated Chinese Acupuncture

The Western approach to pain management is focused on the use of pharmacotherapy, physical therapy, nerve blocks, nerve ablations, implantable devices. Even though increasing of understanding of the mechanisms of pain for the treatments; some pains remain intractable (Hariharan et al, 2007; Wagner et al, 2007; Laxmaiah et al, 2009). In contrast, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) centres primarily on the energy relationship among the environment and the body and organs, without a clear understanding of pathophysiology or the mechanisms of diseases and its effects are varied and inconsistent. The collateral meridian therapy (CMT), offers an alternative treatment for different types of pain by taking a systematic approach to a variant of traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA). Here, we highlight the recent development of CMT by describing the main theory, discussing the differences between CMT and TCA, defining abbreviations associated with CMT, explaining acupoint localization principles, and providing clinical reports for application in pain management.