'APONEUROTIC SYSTEM' IN MEDICAL CLASSIC THE YELLOW EMPEROR'S CANON OF INTERN AL MEDICINE IS THE EARLIEST DESCRIPTION ON NERVOUS SYSTEM IN HUMAN HI STORY

摘要

The description of "Jingjin" (经筋aponeurotic system or muscles or te ndinomuscular structures of the 12 regular meridians) in Chapter Jingjin of book Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》the Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Internal Medicine) i s the earliest record on nervous system. The Jingjin an d channels are interdepen dent, and together they form the major parts of the channel-collateral system i n the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The integration of their own functions contributes to the "Qiji" (气机 functional ac tivities) of the channel- collateral system. The Jingjin distributes in the human bo dy regularly like chan nels, with starting and ending points (which goes up and down), main streams and branches, converging and connecting spots, and specific manifestations for a ce rtain disease. Observation by modern anatomy shows that blood vessels, nerves, a nd lymphatic vessels accompany closely with each other to run in the human body and work together to maintain human’s life activities.