Moxibustion () is a
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...
therapy which consists of burning dried
mugwort (''
moxa'') on particular points on the body. It plays an important role in the traditional
medical
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Mongolia. Suppliers usually age the mugwort and grind it up to a fluff; practitioners burn the fluff or process it further into a
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...
-shaped stick. They can use it indirectly, with
acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...
needles, or burn it on the patient's skin.
Moxibustion is promoted as a treatment for a wide variety of conditions, but its use is not backed by good evidence and it carries a risk of
adverse effect
An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term compli ...
s.
[
]
Terminology
The first Western remarks on moxibustion can be found in letters and reports written by Portuguese missionaries in 16th-century Japan. They called it ''botão de fogo'' (), a term originally used for round-headed Western cautery irons. Hermann Buschoff, who published the first Western book on this matter in 1674 (English edition 1676), used the Japanese pronunciation ''mogusa'' (from "''moe-gusa''", lit. burning herb). As the ''u'' is not very strongly enunciated, he spelled it "Moxa". Later authors blended "Moxa" with the Latin word '' combustio'' ("burning").
The name of the herb Artemisia (mugwort) species used to produce Moxa is called ''ài'' or ''àicǎo'' (, ) in Chinese and ''yomogi'' () in Japan.
The Chinese names for moxibustion are ''jiǔ'' () or ''jiǔshù'' (); the Japanese use the same characters and pronounce them as ''kyū'' and ''kyūjutsu''. In Korean the reading is ''tteum'' (). Korean folklore attributes the development of moxibustion to the legendary emperor Dangun
Dangun or Tangun (; ), also known as Dangun Wanggeom (; ), was the legendary founder and first king of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom. He founded the first kingdom around the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "gra ...
.
Tteum (moxibustion).jpg, a Korean set of ''tteum''
Tteum (moxibustion) 2.jpg, application of ''tteum'' on the back of a hand
Moxa-samples-from-Japan.jpg, Samples of Japanese Moxa. Left to right: processed mugwort (1st stage); processed mugwort (2nd stage); coarse Moxa for indirect moxibustion; usual quality for indirect and direct moxibustion; superior quality for direct moxibustion.
Ibuki moxa set.jpg, Traditional moxibustion set from Maibara (Japan)
Stick-on-moxa-rolls-japan.jpg, Stick–on moxa (left) and moxa rolls (right) used for indirect moxa heat treatment. The stick-on moxa is a modern product sold in Japan, Korea, and China. Usually the base is self-adhesive to the treatment point.
Theory and practice
Practitioners use moxa to warm regions and meridian points with the intention of stimulating circulation through the points and inducing a smoother flow of blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.
Blood is com ...
and qi. Some believe it can treat conditions associated with the "cold" or "yang deficiencies" in Chinese medicine. It is claimed that moxibustion mitigates against cold and dampness in the body, and can be used to treat lymphedema following intrapelvic lymph node dissection, and help turn breech babies.gerontology
Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, culture, cultural, psychology, psychological, cognitive, and biology, biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Ancient Greek, Greek ('), meaning "o ...
. Bian Que (''fl.'' ''circa'' 500 BCE), one of the most famous semi-legendary doctors of Chinese antiquity and the first specialist in moxibustion, discussed the benefits of moxa over acupuncture in his classic work ''Bian Que Neijing''. He asserted that moxa could add new energy to the body and could treat both excess and deficient conditions.
Practitioners may use acupuncture needles made of various materials in combination with moxa, depending on the direction of ''qi'' flow they wish to stimulate.
There are several methods of moxibustion. Three of them are direct scarring, direct non-scarring, and indirect moxibustion. Direct scarring moxibustion places a small cone of moxa on the skin at an acupuncture point and burns it until the skin blisters, which then scars after it heals.[ Direct non-scarring moxibustion removes the burning moxa before the skin burns enough to scar, unless the burning moxa is left on the skin too long.][ Indirect moxibustion holds a cigar made of moxa near the acupuncture point to heat the skin, or holds it on an acupuncture needle inserted in the skin to heat the needle.]
Uses and effectiveness
Most research into moxibustion comes from China and is generally of low quality.[
]
Pregnancy
There is some evidence to suggest that moxibustion, when included along with other procedures that are usual to care for a person who is at risk of a breech birth, may decrease the chances that the baby presents in the breech position and may decrease the chances of a person requiring oxytocin to help labour start or progress.caesarean section
Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the Surgery, surgical procedure by which one or more babies are Childbirth, delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because va ...
.
Other
Moxibustion has also been studied for the treatment of pain, cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
, ulcerative colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is one of the two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the other type being Crohn's disease. It is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary sympto ...
, constipation
Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The Human feces, stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the ...
, and hypertension
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...
. Systematic reviews have found that these studies are of low quality and positive findings could be due to publication bias
In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a Statistical significance, significant find ...
.
Adverse effects
Moxibustion carries a risk of adverse effect
An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term compli ...
s including burns and infection.
Parallel uses of mugwort
Mugwort amongst other herbs was often bound into smudge sticks. The Chumash people
The Chumash are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now Kern County, California, Kern, San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis O ...
from southern California have a similar ritual. Europeans placed sprigs of mugwort under pillows to provoke dreams; and the herb had associations with the practice of magic in Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
times.
See also
*
**
*
*
*
*
References
External links
* W Michel
Far Eastern Medicine in Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Century Germany
Hermann Buschoff, ''The gout, more narrowly searcht, and found out; together with the certain cure thereof''. London 1676. W Michel ed. Fukuoka, March 2003. (Japanese introduction by the editor, English text)
{{Authority control
Traditional Chinese medicine
Alternative medicine
Traditions involving fire