The curriculum of most schools of Chinese medicine is usually broken down into the following topics concerning the theory of Chinese medicine: Physiology of the Internal Organs; Aetiology; Diagnosis; Patterns of disharmony of the Internal Organs. In addition, the acupuncture curriculum is based on the study of the channels and points. As part of The Energetics and Treatment of Body Areas series, Maciocia turns this approach on its head and places areas first so that everything else is subordinate to that. In The Energetics & Treatment of Body Areas - Occiput & Neck, Maciocia does just that, placing the Occiput & Neck first and each diagnostic and therapeutic element, relevant to the Occiput & Neck, is discussed together.