CARB-TCMPA Acupuncturist Exam flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Qi's five functions

Promoting, warming, defending, transforming and transporting, and holding. Deficiency shows as fatigue, cold limbs, easy sweating, poor digestion, or prolapse.

Yin-yang interdependence

Yin and yang create and consume each other. Extreme heat can injure yin, producing night sweats and a red peeled tongue, so treatment must clear heat and nourish yin.

Zang versus fu organs

Zang are yin, store vital substances, and are solid (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney). Fu are yang, receive and transmit, and are hollow (stomach, bladder, gallbladder, intestines, sanjiao).

Eight principles

Yin-yang, interior-exterior, cold-heat, and deficiency-excess. A complete diagnosis combines one term from each pair before selecting a treatment principle.

Damp pathogen features

Damp is heavy, turbid, sticky, and lingering. It causes body heaviness, greasy tongue coating, loose stools, and dull headache, and tends to combine with heat or cold.

Tongue coating significance

Coating reflects stomach qi and pathogens. Thin white is normal; thick greasy suggests damp or phlegm; yellow suggests heat; absent coating suggests yin or fluid depletion.

Wiry pulse meaning

A wiry pulse feels like a taut guitar string. It indicates liver qi stagnation, pain, or phlegm, and is commonly felt at the left guan position.

Interior-excess-heat pattern

High fever, thirst, red face, constipation, yellow coating, and a forceful rapid pulse. Treatment clears heat and purges excess rather than nourishing.

Twelve primary channels

Six yin and six yang channels, each linked to a zang or fu organ. They form a continuous circuit and are the main pathways used in acupuncture point selection.

Eight extraordinary vessels

Du, ren, chong, dai, yin qiao, yang qiao, yin wei, and yang wei. They do not connect directly to organs and regulate the primary channels as reservoirs.

Deqi sensation

The arrival of qi felt as soreness, numbness, distension, or heaviness around the needle. It is a desired clinical response, not an adverse event.

Pneumothorax risk points

Thin patients and deep needling at upper back and chest points such as BL13, BL14, and ST12 risk lung puncture. Use shallow, oblique insertion and avoid deep needling.

Needle shock management

Fainting from needle anxiety or an empty stomach. Stop needling, remove needles, lie the patient flat, elevate legs, and monitor; prevent by screening and treating after meals.

Moxibustion indications

Warming therapy for cold and deficiency patterns, such as cold painful joints or spleen yang deficiency. Avoid over the abdomen and lumbosacral area in pregnancy.

Cupping precautions

Negative pressure causes petechiae. Avoid over broken skin, in patients taking anticoagulants, and over the kidney area in acute nephritis; remove if blisters form.

Pregnancy needling cautions

Avoid strong stimulation of LI4, SP6, GB21, and abdominal or lumbosacral points. These are classically linked to uterine contraction and miscarriage risk.

Sharps handling rule

Use single-use sterile needles only. Place used needles directly into a rigid sharps container at chairside without recapping, and perform hand hygiene before and after.

Cun measurement

Proportional body unit used to locate points. One cun equals the width of the interphalangeal joint of the patient's thumb, or the breadth of the middle finger.

Front-mu points

Alarm points on the chest and abdomen where organ qi gathers, such as CV12 for the stomach and CV17 for the pericardium. Useful for acute and diagnostic purposes.

Formula hierarchy

Chief treats the main pattern; deputy supports or addresses a secondary pattern; assistant moderates or treats accompanying signs; envoy harmonizes and directs the formula.

Eighteen Incompatibilities

Classic list of herb pairs to avoid because they oppose each other, such as aconite with pinellia or trichosanthes. Memorized as a safety rule.

Aconite processing

Raw fuzi is toxic. It is processed or decocted first for 30 to 60 minutes to reduce toxicity, and overdose causes numbness, arrhythmia, and hypotension.

Decocting aromatic herbs

Aromatic herbs such as bohe and muxiang contain volatile oils. Add them 5 to 10 minutes before the end of decoction so their active constituents are not lost.

Decocting minerals and shells

Hard minerals and shells such as longgu, muli, and shijue ming are decocted first for 20 to 30 minutes to extract their constituents before adding lighter herbs.

Pregnancy herb cautions

Strong blood movers such as taoren and honghua, purgatives such as dahuang, and toxic herbs are contraindicated or used only with caution during pregnancy.

Formula modification

Adjusting herbs or doses (jia jian) based on the current pattern, not the disease label. The same western diagnosis may require different formulas for different patterns.

Herb-anticoagulant interaction

Blood-invigorating herbs such as danshen and chuanxiong may increase bleeding risk with warfarin or antiplatelet drugs. Screen the medication list and monitor for bruising.

Granule versus raw dosing

Granules are concentrated extracts, so the dose differs from raw herbs. Convert according to the product's extraction ratio rather than substituting gram for gram.

Herbal documentation

Record formula name, each herb and dose, form (raw, granule, patent), duration, and follow-up plan so response and adverse effects can be reviewed.

Ginseng separate decoction

Valuable tonics such as ginseng are decocted separately in a covered vessel and then combined, so their constituents are fully extracted and not absorbed by other herbs.

Nineteen Mutual Antagonisms

A classic list of herb pairs whose combination reduces efficacy or increases toxicity, such as ginseng with wulingzhi. It is a memorized prescribing safety rule.

Toxic herb prescribing

Herbs such as banxia and fuzi require processing, restricted doses, and clear patient instructions. Start low, monitor closely, and document the rationale.