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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Moxibustion: The Chinese Ancient Fire Acupuncture Therapy


Care to know the hottest alternative medicine technique? Literally speaking, Moxibustion happens to be the hottest healing tradition in East Asia. Perhaps you are curious why it’s regarded as the hottest therapeutic procedure in the region. Now let me share some interesting facts that can shed light on your curiosity. Here some must-know particulars about this hot oriental therapy.

What is Moxibustion? Based on its etymology, the word literally means “burning of mugwort.” The mugwort itself is stuffed with healthy compounds such as coumarin, flavonoids, and terpene that are useful in fighting degenerative diseases. In Oriental Asian tradition, it is believed that burning the herb at the right acupuncture spot can promote physical healing. Generated heat, along with the essential elements of the plant, stimulates normal blood flow thereby stabilizing the circulatory system. 

Where did it originate? Although Moxibustion has been practiced in East Asia for years, Traditional Chinese Medicine deserves the credit for the introduction and development of the alternative medicine. This technique originated in the Northern part of China. Most likely, it has been used by the locals to treat certain illnesses and diseases brought about by extremely cold climate in the region. That explains the need to introduce essential healing elements using heat. Later on, the method has been employed in neighbouring countries such as Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, and Vietnam

How is it done? The process entails burning of mugwort herb on relevant acupuncture spots to promote thorough blood circulation. Since the procedure is risky, it should only be administered by trained professionals.  Otherwise, you might need another treatment for serious skin burn. There are various techniques utilized to perform Moxibustion that may fall under direct or indirect skin heating procedure. Either way, rest assured that your body can get a share of the herb’s special healing properties.

Direct Moxibustion is done by burning the cone-shaped moxa directly onto the skin. The procedure is obviously painful especially the scarring technique that does not make use of topical pastes to mitigate the pain. As a result, the subject ends up suffering from blisters, scars, and skin burns. Some practitioners prefer the use of skin shields, though. Popularly known as the non-scarring method, this alternative is definitely less painful. To mitigate the pain, it utilizes skin shielding medium like ginger slice or topical paste. Just make sure you can bear the consequential pain in deciding whether you should go for scarring or non-scarring treatment.

Indirect Moxibustion promotes skin wellness apart from the healing effects of moxa. Therapists introduced Indirect Moxibustion to prevent any sort of skin damage. The process makes use of lighted moxa stick placed an inch or two away from the skin. Another indirect heating method is the needle moxa technique in which lighted moxa is placed on the free end of an acupuncture needle pierced into skin.  If you are up for controlled indirect heating, the moxa stick commonly used in China shall do the tricks. Otherwise, you’ll be better off using the popular moxa needles in Japan.

Of course the therapeutic effect of moxa is available for everyone’s relief! However, it is not advisable for people suffering from diabetes, respiratory problems, pain intolerance, and the like. You have to consult health professionals before going through Moxibustion treatment.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Moxibustion is a heat therapy which applied in some specific acu-points into body.

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