What is Bioenergetic Medicine?
The human body employs both a chemical and electrical operating system. Imbalances and stress in the body’s electrical system show up at special points on the meridians that can be measured and corrected. While the FDA has recently approved various electromagnetic devices for diagnostic purposes, Chinese medicine understood this ‘energy body’ concept centuries ago.
A growing industry of U.S. health practitioners supported by recent technology discoveries have taken the Chinese understanding of the body’s electrical system to new levels, employing a wide variety of diagnostic and treatment technology tools.
At Balanced Body Center in Denver, we use an advanced bioenergetic medicine technology called the Avatar. This Avatar bioenergetic technology is a proven asset, along with blood, saliva or urine testing and symptoms, in putting all the pieces together and uncovering the body’s complex events that may create health challenges. It can also assist in developing a treatment plan and dosage evaluation of herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies and other supplements.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, a form of energy found in the body called chi is generated in internal organs and circulates throughout the body. Chi forms pathways near the surface of the skin called meridians. This whole-body network is called the meridian system. Acupuncture points are points on the skin, usually located on meridians, where the circulation of chi can be manipulated.
By stimulating an acupuncture point on the skin through pressure, heat, or needle insertion, the circulation of chi is affected. But this is not the only way to take advantage of the meridian system. The meridian energy flow also carries with it information about internal organs that can be used in diagnosis. This is the basis of the electrodermal screening test (EDST). The device used in the EDST is the electrodermal screening device, or EDSD, which works by measuring electrical resistance and polarization at acupuncture points and meridians. Through these safe, skin-level measurements, it is possible to analyze the bio-energy and bio-information produced by internal organs and systems.
There are two cables coming out of the EDSD, one positive and one negative. The positive lead is attached to a stylus with an electrode tip. The doctor holds the stylus by the insulated handle and presses the tip against one of the patient’s acupuncture points. The patient holds a hand electrode in their free hand. During the measurement the patient and the EDSD form a closed circuit, allowing energy and information to flow from the EDSD to the probe, through the patient to the hand electrode, and back to the EDSD. The EDSD reading is a measurement of how much energy makes it through the circuit (the lower the resistance the higher the reading). A reading taken with the EDSD is usually described using two values, the initial reading (generally the highest value) and the indicator drop (ID). An initial reading of approximately 50 followed by little or no indicator drop is considered “good”. Initial readings below 40 or above 60 and substantial IDs show a compromised system. After the initial stimulus (the initial reading) two things occur: cells become polarized, which increases resistance, and the affected cells work to maintain their natural, unpolarized state. An ID is the result of the polarization of cells that are weakened and can not maintain their own balance – allowing a reading of the stress in the system.