Korean Hand Therapy (KHT) is also called "Korean Sooji Chim",
"Korean Hand Acupuncture" or "Soojichim".
KHT theorizes that the hands are a micro-cosmos of the body.
The function of the human body can be manipulated by stimulating
the corresponding points on our hands.
According to the theory of Korean Hand Therapy', there are 14 micro-meridians and 345 acupuncture points on our hands which regulate the internal organs of human body.
These acupuncture points may be stimulated by using the following instruments: Hand Needles, Seoam Press-Pellets, Seaom Moxa, E-beam, Magnets, KHT Silver Ring, or Cyber Hand Therapy (mind vibration).
Thus the physiological function of the entire body can be regulated by stimulating these acupuncture points on the hands.
The theory of Korean Hand Therapy was first originated, studied and developed by The Korean acupuncturist, Dr. Tae Woo Yoo between 1971 and 1975. Since that time Korean Hand Therapy has spread to the public worldwide.
Korean Hand Therapy is a scientific medical system that is quite simple to learn and easy to perform without any side effects or danger to the patient.
If you are in pain or have a problem somewhere in your body, the reactions are reflected on the hands in the form of tender points. Pain commonly or frequently shown on the hands corresponds to the painful part of your body. Therefore, the stimulation of the tender points positively affects pain relief.
Korean Hand Therapy is divided into Correspondence, Micromeridian, Five Element, Eight Extra Ordinary Points and Special Points Therapy. Thus the results of scientific method of experiment have proven the positive results of Korean Hand Therapy treatment.
Korean Hand Therapy diagnoses can be divided into Correspondence Points, Three Constitutions, Yin and Yang Pulse Diagnosis, Electronic Beam, Biorhythm and Five Finger Diagnosis.
Korean Hand Therapy is very effective in treating a wide range of ailments such as infertility, rheumatic arthritis, allergy and stroke, but there are limits to what it can accomplish. Clearly, conditions that require surgery and infectious diseases can not be cured using hand acupuncture. However, Korean Hand Therapy treatment can play a useful part in complementing Western Medicine by alleviating pain and promoting recovery and lessen the side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients, relieving nausea, so that the patients can continue to receive the treatment.
Korean Hand Therapy contributes to the maintenance of a person’s health as well as self-diagnosis. It is possible to perform self-treatment, treat family members and even employ KHT as a volunteer activity for charity.
The research of KHT has been actively spread since Korean Hand Therapy Institute and Yin Yang Maek Jin Publishing Co. Ltd. was established in 1977. Nowadays, there are 170 domestic branches and 27 overseas branches established all over the world.
The members are estimated to be about three million. In addition, volunteer members who practice KHT for charity are estimated to be about 200 groups.
Development of Korean Hand Therapy
Prior to discovering Korean Hand Therapy, traditional acupuncture that utilizes the whole body for treatment, was the subject of Dr. Yoo's research and practice. However, in his practice of traditional acupuncture, he noticed some disadvantages or shortcomings in body acupuncture needles. The needles were thick and long; thus the insertion was deep and painful. These thick and long needles may cause serious side effects such as deafness, paralysis, and unconsciousness as well as aggravation of disease.
Furthermore, Dr. Yoo sometimes observed that the ailments were not healed well when treatment was performed according to meridian theories of traditional body acupuncture. As he studied body acupuncture more deeply, he took a skeptical and negative view of meridian theories in Traditional Body Acupuncture since the presence of the meridian could not be proven in a scientific experiment.
In addition, it was difficult for lay people to understand traditional body acupuncture since the theories were too abstract and ideological.
Therefore, Dr. Yoo started to study a new concept of acupuncture that is quite simple to learn and safe to perform without any side effect.
His interest in physiognomy urged him to study the relationship of the face and body more profoundly and he came to realize that the face is interrelated to the diseased part of the body. In other words, the entire body is represented on the face. The condition of the body as well as the destiny can be foreseen by looking over the face. For instance, if you have a clean and smooth forehead without any wrinkle, it means that the body is healthy and the function of the stomach is good, however, if you have many wrinkles and a rough forehead, it indicates that the body has constant slight ailments, especially some problems related to the function of the stomach.
Finally, Dr. Yoo got a hint that the entire body is represented on the hands as the entire body is on the face.
In addition, Dr. Yoo also studied the theory of the visceral-somatic reflex that is based on the following hypothesis; reaction and changes occur on their corresponding or interconnected organs, tissues, muscles and skin through the nervous system when certain viscera are infected and / or disordered.
For example, when there is any abnormal change in the viscera, the nerve impulse is transferred to the central nervous system by the afferent nerve fibers of the autonomic nerves. Once it reaches the brain, the brain commands the affected body parts through the efferent nerve fibers. The mechanism of correspondence in Korean Hand Acupuncture is very similar to the mechanism of the visceral-somatic reflex.
The stimulation of the corresponding points of certain body parts initiates the hand to organ reflex first then the organ to organ reflex. Then it develops into the visceral to somatic reflex. It also states that a large number of different human diseases can be treated or cured through the route of the reflex system, and this theory has been verified by clinical experiments such as thermograms.
The stimulation of the hand is very effective due to the presence of a large number of sympathetic nerve fibers in the hands.
Present position of Korean Hand Therapy
The science of acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine are important component of traditional oriental medicine that were developed in the East about 2500 years ago.
Oriental Medicine that originated in China is called Traditional Chinese Medicine, oriental medicine from Japan is called Japanese Oriental Medicine, and that from Korea is called Traditional Korean Medicine or Korean Oriental Medicine.
However, Korean Hand Therapy, a form of alternative medicine, differs from both Korean Traditional Medicine and Western medicine. It was not popular word among the people until the word of 'SOOJI CHIM' appeared to the Korean dictionary by Mr. Hee Sung Lee in 1980.
KHT has been practiced by many people as well as licensed doctors after a decision of the Supreme Court on April 17, 1994 stating that it is not illegal that the general public insert the needles to others if it is performed without pay, even though they are not practitioners. As a result, KHT volunteer members can perform KHT for charity.
Thousands of people treat friends and strangers. Some accomplished practitioners have ailing patients actually lined up outside their doors.
Popularization of Korean Hand Therapy
Korean Hand Therapy has rapidly spread all over the world since KHT was revealed to the public. In Japan, Many clinical KHT experiments were performed by the late Dr. Manaka Yoshio, Dr. Yastu Mistuo, the honorary professor of Nihon University, Dr. Hida Kazhiko, the otholaryngologist, since Korean Hand Therapy information was serially published in a Japanese journal of western medicine by Dr. Tae Suk Song in 1977. In the US, KHT was introduced first to the 2nd International Oriental Medicine Congress held in 1984. Since then, KHT seminars have been held periodically.
Both Dr. Peter Eckman and Dr. Jae Woo Yoo have put in a great deal of effort to spread KHT in the US. Since 1994 Dr. Dan Lobash has worked very hard to spread KHT even further. From November 1996 to Nov. 1998, a training program for KHT teachers was completed successfully in LA and has been conducted continually from then on. These trained teachers are expected to help the future students of KHT in North America. Also, there are many acupuncturists in the US who have visited Korea to learn KHT. They have contributed to the improvement of the public's health.
American acupuncturists who have studied KHT are estimated to be about 6,000. KHT was adopted as a credited course in UC Berkeley and UCLA. Korean Hand Therapy has also spread to Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, South-East Asia, Africa, Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Argentina.
Korean Hand Therapy Symposium held in to 2005 to exchange the methods of clinical treatment and share the information of clinical treatment.
In addition, various kinds of valuable thesis for KHT therapy have been announced in many symposia and congresses held all over the world, e.g. the 3rd Korean-Columbia Oriental Medicine Congress, the 2nd Korean-Spain Korean Hand Acupuncture Symposium, the World Oriental Medicine Congress in Holland, the 9th World Women Health Congress held in Egypt, Canadian Oriental Acupuncture Symposium in 1999, and the 11th Pacific Oriental Acupuncture Symposium in San Diego, 1999.
Many clinical thesis and treatment methods reported from many symposium and congresses have been compiled and published into a book by 106 edition since Oct., 1981. Moreover, KHT was adopted as cultural studies in many domestic universities such as E-Wha University, Yon Sei University, Koryo University, Kyoung Hee University. It is a required course in Han Sung University, Won Kwang University, Jun Ju University, and Ho Suh University. It has been adopted as an alternative medicine in many hospitals such as Yong Dong Hospital and Seoul Central Hospital.
KHT therapy has been applied for students' voluntary service for rural communities and is practiced now for treating their neighborhood and the elderly by more than 300 groups of KHT as a voluntary service for charity. In 1999, a college specializing in Korean Hand Acupuncture was established to produce KHT Licensed Practitioners authorized by the Health Ministry of Brazil. In Korea, the Korea National Tourism Organization selected KHT as the representative tourism item of Korea. This provides a "KHT Experience Program" in English to the foreigners who are visiting Korea.
Characteristics of Korean Hand Therapy
KHT can prevent diseases of the whole body and maintain health as well as cure a wide range of ailments because KHT regulates the function of Jang Bu organs by stimulating the acupuncture points on the hands.
The ultimate goal of KHT is to regulate the imbalanced function of Jang Bu organs into the balanced one through the regulation of the cerebral blood flow. The balance of the Jang-Bu organs is highly dependent on the blood circulation flowing to the brain.
As the brain governs autonomic nervous system, sympathetic nervous system and generation of hormone and controls the activity of all the organs, an abnormal function of the brain results in disorders of our health. Therefore, the purpose of all theories and method of stimulation involved in KHT rely upon the balance of the cerebral blood flow.
As the diseases of the body are caused by an imbalance of Jang Bu organs, it is very important to discriminate the excess and deficiency of Jang Bu organs.
For discriminating the excess and deficiency of Jang Bu organs, Congenital Constitution, Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis, Three Constitution, the application of E-Beam can be applied. KHT enables us to manipulate the condition of the pulse freely through the experiment of Three Constitution, Corresponding Reflex Points, and Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis. For example, if there is some painful reaction on St25 in the abdomen, it is determined that the large intestine is excess when diagnosed by Yin Yang Pulse. In this case, if we sedate the large intestine micromeridian, then the painful reaction on ST25 disappears and the pulse becomes balanced.
In reverse, if we tonify the large intestine micromeridian the painful reaction on ST25 become worse and the pulse becomes worse when diagnosed by Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis. The Corresponding Points, Micromeridian and Special Points can also be used for verifying the change of the pulse.
The instruments developed by KHT can be used for verifying whether the treatment is effective or not based on Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis. To confirm whether the treatment is effective or not, the patient's pulse should be observed by Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis. If the treatment given to the patient is accurate, the patient's pulse becomes balanced. However, if the stimulation of the treatment is inaccurate, then the patient's pulse remains imbalanced when diagnosed by Three Constitution or Yin Yang Pulse Diagnosis. In conclusion, KHT can confirm the effect of treatment by comparing the patient's pulse.
As shown in the above, KHT established systematic theories for prevention of disease and maintenance of health. As KHT has a definite concept of health the maintenance of health and relief from disease is overwhelmingly rapid and effective.
In addition, KHT has researched many methods of treatment for incurable and chronic disease. However, conditions that require surgery, severe injury of tissue that is not able to recover by itself, organic disease and infectious disease cannot be cured using hand acupuncture. For successful treatment of incurable, inveterate and chronic diseases, Seoam Moxibustion for heat stimulation, Sooji Food for providing nutrition, Electronic Beam are used in KHT.
KHT is free from any danger and side effects. It is not involved with any habitual and toxic application. Therefore, KHT is very safe to perform for self-treatment as well as the patient's treatment in the clinics. KHT is very effective for increasing immunity. As the immune strength increases by applying KHT, KHT can effectively be used for complementing Western Medicine by lessening the side effects of chemotherapy or radiological treatment in cancer patients and relieving nausea, so that the patients can continue to receive the treatment.
Click here to learn more about the Correspondence of Korean Hand Therapy.
