What is moxibustion therapy?

Moxibustion therapy, referred to as moxibustion for short, is a therapeutic method to burn and heat acupuncture points on the body surface by using moxa or other drugs, and through the conduction of meridians, with the help of the heat of moxibustion fire and the action of drugs, to warm and replenish qi and blood, strengthen the body resistance and eliminate evil, so as to prevent and treat diseases. Moxibustion (Yinruo, the earliest moxibustion term, commonly referred to as moxibustion in modern times) is a treatment method with fire. Xu Shen of Han Dynasty wrote Moxibustion, which said, "Moxibustion is made from fire". Moxibustion is the way to cure diseases. Burn the fire with moxa sticks and press them. ..... acupuncture with bian stone, burning with moxa, called moxibustion. " Explain briefly what moxibustion is. It is one of the inventions of working people in China, and it is an integral part of acupuncture medicine in China. Moxibustion is a method of making moxa sticks from the leaves of Artemisia argyi, a compositae plant, burning them in different ways at certain acupoints, giving appropriate warm stimulation directly or indirectly, and achieving the purpose of treatment and health care through meridian conduction. In the book Shenjiu Meridian in Qing Dynasty, Wu said: "Moxibustion to get fire, with fiery heat as the quick, soft and rigid body, can eliminate yin stagnation, move but not exist, be good at entering the zang-fu organs, take moxa incense as the wick, pass the twelve meridians, enter the three yin, regulate qi and blood, and treat all diseases, which is also easy." This paper summarizes the characteristics and functions of moxibustion in treating diseases. It can not only cure diseases, but also prevent diseases. Sun Simiao in the Tang Dynasty said in Qian Jin Fang: "When an official travels to Wu and Shu, he often needs moxibustion in two or three places ... then boils and malaria can't touch people." This is a summary of practical experience. As a health care measure, modern Japanese doctors use moxibustion and cauterization throughout factories and schools. The experimental results show that moxibustion can really enhance physical fitness and prevent diseases. Acupuncture and moxibustion are both performed on meridian points, and they have similarities and are often used in combination. However, it must be pointed out that moxibustion has its uniqueness, and acupuncture cannot be used instead of moxibustion. In the past, many famous doctors at home and abroad used moxibustion alone to treat diseases. Both China and Japan have specialized moxibustion masters, which are juxtaposed with acupuncturists. The ancients said, "What acupuncture doesn't do is what moxibustion does." According to Huangdi Neijing. The coffin explained: "Acupuncture is a purgative method, and moxibustion is a tonic method." It is suitable for acupuncture to relieve exterior syndrome, reduce fever and hyperactivity of yang. However, from excess to deficiency, internal diseases, cold syndrome and deficiency of both yin and yang can not be alleviated by acupuncture. Use moxibustion if the medicine is not enough. Because the habits of ancient Chinese are very different from now, it is easy to misunderstand. Although moxibustion slightly burns the skin, it doesn't go deep into the body like acupuncture, so people are not afraid and willing to accept it. It is a treatment method that is easy to popularize. Modern times have done a lot of scientific research on moxibustion. Medical data and clinical practice at home and abroad prove that moxibustion can activate the function of viscera, stimulate metabolism, and produce antibodies and immunity. Therefore, long-term implementation of health moxibustion can make people feel comfortable, energetic and prolong their illness. Moxibustion can regulate blood pressure, respiration, pulse, heart rate, nerves and blood vessels. Can significantly increase white blood cells, hemoglobin, red blood cells, platelets and so on. It can reduce cholesterol, slow down sedimentation rate, shorten coagulation time, and also have significant regulatory effects on blood sugar, blood calcium and endocrine system function. Gui Jinshui pointed out in the article "Clinical and Experimental Research on Moxibustion in Recent Ten Years" published in Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture on September 4th 1990 that Moxibustion has anti-shock, anti-infection and anti-cancer effects, and has good curative effects on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, scleroderma, bronchial asthma, tuberculosis and hepatitis B, etc. Experimental studies have proved that moxibustion can change humoral immune function, at the same time, it can also affect the number and function of T lymphocytes and activate the phagocytic function of white blood cells and macrophages. Especially after moxibustion, the high value of T lymphocytes can be reduced and the low value can be increased, indicating that moxibustion has a two-way immunomodulatory effect. The characteristic of moxibustion is that it can not only inhibit hyperfunction, but also excite the declining function and tend to a state of physiological balance. Therefore, moxibustion is a benign stimulus to the human body and is of great benefit to strengthening physical fitness. It can be used regardless of the body constitution, especially for weak children, so moxibustion has a wide range of applications. Through long-term practice, people have long known that moxa sticks are the best raw materials for moxibustion. Modern research has found that the veins of mugwort leaves on the earth are the most uniform. As early as 3,000 years ago, wise people in China discovered that Artemisia argyi is the most suitable raw material for moxibustion. Folium Artemisiae Argyi, a traditional Chinese medicine, is a perennial herb with chrysanthemum-like leaves, dark green surface and gray fluff on the back. Warm fragrance, picked in May, leaves used as medicine. Nanyang, Henan is the best, with thick and fluffy leaves, superior geographical location, humid climate and dense wormwood, which is most suitable for moxibustion! Folium Artemisiae Argyi can promote qi and blood circulation, warm the middle warmer to dispel cold, remove dampness and relieve depression, promote granulation and prevent miscarriage, benefit yin and qi, warm uterus, kill ascaris lumbricoides, moxibustion all diseases, dredge the twelve meridians's qi and blood, and restore the lost Yuanyang. Oral administration is used to treat infertility due to uterine cold, menstrual abdominal pain, metrorrhagia and leukorrhagia. For external use, moxibustion can cure all diseases, strengthen Yuanyang, warm and dredge meridians, dispel wind and cold, relax tendons and activate collaterals, and restore yang to save adverse events. Ai for moxibustion, the effect is really beyond our expectation. The warm stimulation of moxa fire can go deep and last for a long time, which makes people feel relaxed and happy. If it is ordinary hot compress, it just feels burning on the surface, but it has no effect of warming and dispelling cold. Moxibustion, like acupuncture, can make the weak function vigorous and inhibit the hyperactive function. Deficiency and cold can be supplemented, stagnation can be dispersed, the sick can be treated, and the disease-free can be moxibustion to strengthen the body and prolong life. Li Shizhen, a pharmacologist in Ming Dynasty, said in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Whoever uses mugwort leaves must use them for a long time, and the treatment is soft and delicate, which is called ripe mugwort leaves. If Artemisia argyi is born, moxibustion and fire will easily hurt bones and muscles. " So be sure to use mugwort leaves that are old for a long time. The older the better. There is a saying that "it takes three years to get sick for seven years", which is also true, because Artemisia argyi leaves contain a lot of volatile oil, which is difficult to put out and will make people burn. Ai Chen is easy to burn and extinguish, which can relieve burning pain. Ai Rong must be prepared in advance. Folium Artemisiae Argyi is dried repeatedly, screened clean, and impurities are removed to make it soft and delicate as cotton, and it can only be used after it becomes moxa. There are two kinds of moxa sticks. The above method is coarse moxa sticks, which can get six or seven taels per catty, which is suitable for general moxibustion. If it is finely processed, after dozens of insolations and dozens of screenings, you can only get two or three taels per catty. What turns khaki is Jing Ai, which can be directly moxibustion. Now there is a mechanism to sell finished moxa sticks, and finished moxa sticks are also raw materials for inkpad. Used for direct moxibustion, it is cheap and can be purchased. Xi 'ai looks like a bunch of small caterpillars with a magnifying glass, clean and without any impurities. There are famous brand-name moxa businesses in Japan that have been passed down for hundreds of years, such as "Kamaiya Club" in Tokyo, and the brand of Kamaiya moxa has a history of more than 300 years. Now the person in charge is the eleventh generation. There is also the "Sanhui Fair" and so on. Most of their goods come from China, and the Kamaiya family produces more than ten tons of moxa sticks A every year. The making method of moxa sticks, the shape and size of moxa sticks and the principle of use. Artemisia argyi leaves are called moxa after processing. Making moxa sticks into balls of a certain shape is called moxa cone. The moxa stick is called strong when it burns. The shape and size of mugwort vary with different uses. If it is used for direct moxibustion, it is necessary to use very fine moxa, which is generally as big as wheat, make it into a cone with a flat top and a flat bottom, and burn it directly on the acupoint; Indirect moxibustion can be made of thick moxa sticks into moxa cones as big as broad beans or soybeans, with the top flat and the bottom flat, and can be placed on ginger slices, garlic slices or medicinal cakes. The ruler used in warm acupuncture is round and tight, such as the size and shape of jujube pit, and is wrapped around the needle handle for cauterization; Used for moxa stick moxibustion, made into uniform and compact strips, such as the size and shape of candles, and heated after lighting. The number and size of moxibustion each time depend on the patient, course of disease, condition, disease location, reinforcing and reducing, acupoints, moxibustion experience, suppuration and climate. Generally speaking, it is as follows: for adults who are strong, newly ill, seriously ill, with excessive heat and pain, and with visceral diseases, diarrhea is used; The acupoints are in the abdomen and hind limbs, and people with moxibustion experience, purulent moxibustion and cold climate should pay more attention to moxa. Women, children, the elderly, the infirm, the chronically ill, the mildly ill, the cold-deficient and numb, and the head of the limbs, use the tonic method; There are many specific methods for acupoint treatment of head, limbs, those who have no moxibustion experience, those who have no suppurative moxibustion and those who are in hot weather. There are several common methods. Moxibustion therapy (1) moxa cone shaped moxa cone burned during moxibustion is called moxa cone. Often divided into direct moxibustion (divided into suppurative moxibustion and non-suppurative moxibustion) and indirect moxibustion. This therapy is widely used in clinic, which can not only protect health, but also cure diseases, especially for deficiency-cold syndrome, such as asthma and gastrointestinal diseases. (2) Moxibustion with moxa sticks at acupoints or diseased parts, that is, moxa sticks moxibustion. Operation is usually divided into mild moxibustion, bird pecking moxibustion and rotating moxibustion. It is mainly used for treating arthralgia due to cold-dampness and other deficiency-cold diseases. (3) Medicine Roll Moxibustion Therapy Medicine Roll Moxibustion is to mix medicine powder with moxa, wrap moxa into medicine roll with paper, and light one end for moxibustion. The indications are basically the same as the above two moxibustion methods. (4) Warm acupuncture therapy: firstly, acupuncture points are selected according to the nature of the disease, and needles are kept after getting angry, and then moxa is wrapped on the needle handle and ignited until it burns out, so that heat can be introduced into the body through the needle body to achieve the purpose of warming meridians and dispelling cold. (5) Ginger-separated moxibustion therapy Take a piece of ginger with a thickness of about 2 minutes, put it on the selected acupuncture point, then put the moxa cone on the ginger piece and light it for moxibustion. After the moxa cone burns out, it is placed again and moxibustion is repeated until the local skin is red. All deficiency-cold diseases can be treated with this therapy. In addition, there are garlic moxibustion, spreading moxibustion (smearing garlic paste on acupoints), salt moxibustion, aconite moxibustion, onion moxibustion, pepper moxibustion, loess moxibustion, yellow wax moxibustion, sulfur moxibustion, and drug ingot inflammation. (6) Light moxibustion therapy uses rushes dipped in sesame oil, lit and moxibustion is applied to children. This therapy is mainly used for acute diseases such as infantile convulsion and coma.