Helms offers a valuable exposition of the traditionally-based, European model of acupuncture, molded by his clinical experience, which he terms Medical Acupuncture. Energetics in this context is understood as the use of acupuncture to move qi within the dynamic of the human system. The approach is explained in the context of the meridian couplets (tai yang, shao yang, etc.) with a full presentation of acupoints, concepts, diagnostics, relationships and clinical instructions. In addition to drawing upon the well-developed body of French-language acupuncture works, he references both basic and clinical research in Western languages. The text adapts modern graphical and textual techniques to the teaching of acupuncture, and examines the roots and sources of its clinical ideas so that their conceptual foundations may be more deeply understood.