Electro acupuncture refers to the therapy in which acu points are stimulated by electrodes carrying minute electrical currents, the principles of treatment being the same as that of classical acupuncture. Whereas this therapy was already in vogue in many parts of the world, pioneering research in electro acupuncture was carried out by Dr. Reinhold Voll, an allopathic physician of Germany, around the mid twentieth century. This research was so extensive and its results so promising that it evolved into a therapy of its own and came to be known as ‘Electro Acupuncture According to Voll’ (EAV) after the name of its inventor.

The western world had hitherto looked upon Chinese acupuncture therapy as an invalidated system and not having a scientific base. Dr. Voll, with the help of electrical measuring instruments, demonstrated and validated the scientific base of various Chinese acupuncture points. He discovered eight new meridians on the palms and the feet to treat tissue disorders such as disorders of nervous tissues, skin tissues, fibrous tissues, etc. Dr. Voll also discovered a new eye meridian around the eye orbit to treat various disorders of the eyes.

Dr. Voll not only scientifically validated the existing Chinese acupuncture points, he discovered a large number of new points on the existing Chinese meridians. He also redefined a number of existing acu points and discovered new locations for these points. The high point of Dr. Voll’s research was his linking of minute parts of various body organs to specific acu points. For example, Dr. Voll found that specific points existed to treat individual parts of organs such as appendix, transverse colon, rectum, etc. in case of large intestine; cardia, fundus, pylorus, etc. in case of stomach; cardiac plexus, endocardium, myocardium, pulmonary valve, A.V. node, etc. in case of heart and similarly for all the parts of all the organs of the body.

Dr. Voll devised an instrument by the name of dermatron to measure the electrical resistance on the acu points. Depending upon the current reading obtained at various acu points, it became possible to tell whether an organ part related to that acu point was diseased and at what stage the disease process was at that point of time, i.e., acute, inflammatory, degenerative, chronic, etc. It became further possible to treat these diseased organs or their affected parts by stimulating their related acu points with the required dosage of electrical current. 

Though the work of Dr. Voll holds vast promise in the field of diagnosis and treatment of most complex of diseases in an extremely simplistic, effective and comparatively inexpensive manner, it is yet to get due recognition from most of the medical fraternity. A few dermatron instruments have been imported by individual practioners in India from Germany. The Sansthan does not have this instrument and practices a modified version of EAV devised by itself by way of application of micro magnets or seeds on the acu points discovered by Dr. Voll. The Sansthan and its affiliate centers have found even this modified method of treatment extremely effective and useful.
 

 
Reflexology

 

The origin of reflexology can be traced back to ancient Egypt around 2300 BC. However, various physicians of USA and Europe developed a modern version of reflexology as an independent therapy around the early twentieth century. Reflexology can be said to be the fore runner to Sujok acupressure, in that the treatment is similarly carried out on the palms/feet but using only 38 points representing various organs and parts of the body. The locations of points in reflexology were arrived at through empirical research over a period of time. However, there appears to be no apparent logical relationship between the body organs/parts and their representative locations on the palms/feet.

The Sansthan’s history began in Mar 1995 with the adoption of reflexology as the sole method of treatment. The Sansthan found this therapy very effective at that time. However, with the introduction of sujok correspondence system at the Sansthan, reflexology got overtaken by the more potent sujok therapy. It was found that whereas reflexology had only 38 points and hence limited application, the number of points in the sujok correspondence system stretched to eternity.

Sujok correspondence system was based on the premise that each and every part of the body down to individual cell had an exact corresponding location on the palms/feet. Thus, the possibilities of sujok correspondence system were endless. The practice of reflexology thus gradually got discontinued at the Sansthan and its use at the Sansthan for all practical purpose has come to an end.