Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Moxibustion



Some time ago, I wrote about acupuncture in my blog. Acupuncture is effective in treating certain syndromes, but not everyone is comfortable to prick needles into his/her skin. There is an alternative: moxibustion (艾灸).

Moxibustion works in the same principle as acupuncture, except that it uses heat instead of needle. There is subtle difference, though. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on the principle of yin and yang. Moxibustion is most suited for treating syndromes caused by deficiency of yang, e.g. menstrual pain. As for whether it can used to treat syndromes caused by too much yang, e.g. fever, the books I read seem to give different views. In such situations, it is advisable to consult qualified TCM doctors.

In Malaysia, you can buy ‘moxa rolls’ from Beijing Tongrengtang (北京同仁堂). The moxa rolls produced a lot of smoke, and not everybody likes it. There are also some ‘smokeless moxa rolls’ sold in China. I intend to order them online.

12 comments:

  1. something new to me, and i have not heard about this kind of treatment before..

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  2. so instead of pricking the fine needle on the 穴道, we near the moxa rolls to the 穴道 and let the heat and smoke do the "pricking"??

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  3. have not done any acupuncture before, but i heard the pricking is not really painful just like stung by mosquitoes??

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  4. SK
    Yes, we place the moxa roll near the points.

    As for acupuncture, pricking is not painful if done fast. But that requires a bit of practice.

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  5. Never tried either, but why not?

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  6. Interesting. The roll/smoke will have to go very near to the body part then? I suppose it must be a challenging exercise. How long does one session usually last?

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  7. Oh! I think I prefer acupressure (tui na) which use fingers to press on the meridian points. Scared of needles pricking the body for acupuncture and heat near the body for moxibustion haha!

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  8. happysurfer
    Just place the moxa roll 2 or 3cm from the skin. Each acupoint 10-20 min.

    foongpc
    Tui na - nice if people do it for you. It's tiring if you do it for yourself.

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  9. wow u're back!!!

    i havent tried any acupuncture or any tcm treatments b4. guess i should go for one one day. am all for a holistic approach instead of relying on chemical medications! ;)

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  11. I really don't prefer smoke... my nose can't bear it

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  12. Stopping by to say hello. You must be very busy, KS. Still having Padini?

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