What is Moxibustion?
Moxibustion, referred to as moxibustion therapy or moxibustion method, is a treatment method that uses moxa leaves made of moxa strips, moxa pillars, to produce moxa heat to stimulate the body’s acupuncture points or specific areas, to adjust the body’s disordered physiological and biochemical functions by stimulating the activity of meridian qi, so as to achieve the purpose of disease prevention and treatment. The mechanism of action of moxibustion is similar to that of acupuncture, and has complementary therapeutic effects with acupuncture. The so-called acupuncture is actually divided into two parts. “Needle” is to take the needle to pierce the acupuncture points, and “moxibustion” is to take the mugwort ignited to fumigate, hot acupuncture points, acupuncture points are certainly stimulated by heat, but not any paper or grass ignited can be used as “moxibustion “The smell of mugwort must also play a role. The smell of mugwort must also play a role at the same time.
Moxibustion has been applied in treating a great range of diseases. A bibliometric analysis on the papers published from 1954 to 2007 in China showed that up to 364 kinds of diseases can be treated with moxibustion. The most proper indications of moxibustion therapy are malposition, diarrhea, and colitis; the common proper indications are urinary incontinence and dysmenorrhea; the next common proper indications are knee osteoarthritis, temporomandibular joint disturbance syndrome, soft tissue injury, heel pain, asthma, urinary retention, and herpes zoster. Moxibustion can also be used to treat weakness, fatigue, and aging related problems.
What are the Benefits of Moxibustion?
Moxibustion has several therapeutic techniques and it is very beneficial to health, such as
- Stimulating circulation and improving the flow of qi
- Improving female health issues such as menstrual irregularity, infertility, and breech pregnancy
- Regulating the digestive system to relieve constipation and chronic diarrhea
- Reducing numbness in the fingers and toes
- Relieving male health problems such as impotence and poor sperm quality
- Stimulating the immune system to fight more serious illnesses and to keep the body healthy
There are many classifications of moxibustion, for example:
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- Direct Moxibustion
- Indirect moxibustion
- Moxa Stick moxibustion