Moxibustion Therapy
I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by losing, by giving.
Anais Nin (1903-1977)
Moxibustion Therapy – Jen Jui Therapy
The practice of Classical Acupuncture is inseparable from the practice of moxibustion, a thermal therapy that owes its efficacy to the medical qualities of the moxa herb (Artemesia vulgaris) which contains more than 60 kinds of curative volatile compounds, such as flavonoids and polysaccharides, all of which have very strong anti-oxidant activity, including freeing the tissues of free radicals and acting on the process of lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, the smoke generated by moxibustion has been shown, using solid phase microextraction gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS), to be an air disinfectant, an antibacterial, an antifungal and an antiviral.
Moxibustion has been in continuous use in China for the last 2500 years. The Zuo Zhuan recorded the use of moxa to treat disease in 581 B.C. The Silk Road Books, discovered in the Mawangdui tombs – Han Dynasty (168 B.C.), document a moxibustion classic of eleven foot-hand meridians and fifty-two diseases, which describes the use of moxibustion to treat complex diseases.
A biometric analysis of scientific papers, published in China from 1959 to 2007, indicates 364 kinds of diseases that can be treated effectively with moxibustion. A small sampling includes:
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Malposition of foetus
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Diarrhea
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Colitis
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Urinary Retention
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Urinary Incontinence
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Dysmenorrhea
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Osteoarthritis
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TMJ (Temporomandibular joint pain)
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Soft tissue injury
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Plantar fasciitis
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Asthma, cough
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Bronchitis, flue
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Herpes
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Fatigue
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Poor circulation
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Reduction of inflammation
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Immune system deficiency
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Premature aging
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Vaginal itching (yeast infection)
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Uterine prolapse
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Anal fistulas
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Common warts