Integrating East and West
The seemingly inscrutable Qin-value detector is not a new invention.
Chung took Reinhold Voll’s electronic acupuncture as a model for his own work in 1982. After years of TCM study and practice, Chung developed his Qin-value detector, which utilizes a greater number of testing points and is better accommodated to Asian physiology.
Chung named the device the “Qin-value detector” to evoke the Qin Dynasty (source of the word “China”) and to suggest the qi of TCM.
Born in Indonesia, Chung graduated from the National Taiwan University College of Medicine and went to work in the cardiology and internal medicine division of Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) in 1963. He was introduced to the field of aviation medicine in 1969, when the Civil Aeronautics Administration asked him to help with the planning of its Aviation Medical Center. Concerned about the potential for side effects on flight personnel, Chung was very conservative in his use of medications at the center, and began moving towards more natural remedies. He also became interested in stimulating the body’s ability to heal itself, eventually obtaining a PhD in natural medicine from the US and studying acupuncture and moxibustion under Sun Peirong, a renowned doctor of TCM. These endeavors made Chung one of Taiwan’s few medical practitioners versed in both Western medicine and TCM.
Chung has used acupuncture and moxibustion to treat a number of prominent people, including former first lady Faina Chiang, a member of the US Congress, the wife of a South African ambassador, and choreographer Lin Hwai-min.
“Lin Hwai-min was on tour in Taiwan at the time, and had a problem at his very first stop,” recalls Chung. While onstage, Lin leapt, rotated his body, and planted his right foot first rather than both feet at the same time. This awkward landing tore a muscle in his calf and left him unable to stand. He was taken to the hospital, where his father called in Chung.
“When there’s an injury to muscle or tendon, you manipulate the yanglingquan acupuncture point [near the knee],” says Chung. “I used acupuncture and moxibustion at that point, which quickly enabled him to stand up.” Thrilled at the results of his treatment, Lin thanked Chung before traveling to the US to spend the following year recuperating.
Chung says that Western doctors’ amazement at mainland China’s success in using acupuncture and moxibustion as anesthetics and for the treatment of pain in the 1960s helped popularize the techniques worldwide in the 1970s. In the 1980s, research into the underlying mechanisms gradually spread from pathology labs to biochemical labs. Scientists eventually learned that acupuncture and moxibustion trigger the production of endocrines and endorphins, and bring about changes to other bodily fluids. Intensive physiological research into the techniques in this period led to the development of present-day energy medicine. Dr. Yoshio Nakatani’s ryodoraku, Voll’s electrodermal screening device, and Samuel Hahnemann’s homeopathy, all classic examples of energy medicine, also began to garner attention.
Dr. Chung Chieh has studied both modern medicine and TCM. Now semi-retired, he uses his “Qin-value detector” to promote preventive care.