Abstract
Objectives : There has been a need for developing and establishing operational curriculum for the education of acupuncture, but defining the level and step of the acupuncture education in clinical perspectives was not thoroughly recognized so far. Methods : We analysed the usage of acupuncture points in the official textbook to recognize the most frequently used acupoints in clinical medicine. It was found that $ST_{36}$ $LI_4$ $SP_6$ $HT_7$ $LR_3$ $CV_{12}$ $BL_{23}$ $CV_6$ $BL_{20}$ $CV_4$ $LI_{11}$ $PC_6$ $KI_3$ $GB_{20}$ $GV_{20}$ $GB_{34}$ $BL_{18}$ $GV_{14}$ $BL_{17}$ $BL_{40}$ are the most frequently used 20 acupuncture points and GB(足少陽擔經), CV(任脈), ST(足陽明胃經) are the most frequently used meridians. Results : The $ST_{36}$, $GB_{34}$, $LI_{11}$ and GB(足太陽膀胱經) meridian are most frequently used for muskuloskeletal disease, $ST_{36}$, $LI_4$, $LI_{11}$ and GB(足太陽膀胱經) meridian are most frequently used for neuromuskular disease, and $ST_{36}$, $CV_{12}$, $BL_{20}$ and CV(任脈) meridian are most frequently used for the digestive system disorders. Conclusions : This study was the first systematic approach to get essential acupuncture points for the education of clinical perspectives of TKM especially for the acupuncture and moxibustion. We found that the $ST_{36}$, $GB_{34}$, $LI_{11}$ and GB(足太陽膀胱經) are the most frequently used acupuncture point and meridian. This study will be used for the development of TKM clinical curriculum.