What are the benefits of traditional Chinese medicine treatments?

It can be said that our country's unique traditional Chinese medicine is comparable to Western medicine, especially for some special diseases that may not be well treated by Western medicine, but can achieve better results with traditional Chinese medicine. Moreover, some folk Chinese medicine therapies can also have miraculous effects in treating diseases. Take moxibustion as an example. It can treat quite a lot of diseases and the effects are very good.

How to make moxa sticks

The main material for moxibustion therapy is moxa, which is made from mugwort leaves. Choose wild mugwort leaves that grow in May in a sunny place, air-dry them and place them indoors for one year before use. This is called aged mugwort.

Take aged mugwort, remove impurities and coarse stems, grind them into powder, sieve them, remove the sharp edges, take out the white fibers and grind them into fluff. You can also take the new mugwort leaves of the year, dry them thoroughly, and then grind them several times until they are as soft as cotton to make moxa wool.

1. Making moxa cones

Place an appropriate amount of moxa in a flat disk and use your index, middle and thumb to pinch it into a cylindrical shape to make a moxa cone. The more compact the moxa is squeezed, the better. According to needs, moxa cones can be made into three sizes: thumb-sized, bean-sized, and wheat-grain-sized, called large, medium, and small moxa cones. Figure 146.

2. Making of moxa rolls

Use both hands to press an appropriate amount of moxa into long strips with moderate hardness and softness to facilitate charcoal burning. Then place it on mulberry paper or pure cotton paper about 5.5 cm wide and 25 cm long. Roll it into a cylinder. Finally, use flour paste to glue the edges of the paper and press the paper ends to make a moxa roll about 20 cm long and 1.5 cm in diameter. Figure 147.

3. Fabrication of spacers

During interval moxibustion, different spacers need to be used, such as fresh ginger slices, garlic slices, garlic paste, medicine bottles, etc. All these should be prepared in advance before moxibustion. Wash fresh ginger and garlic, cut into thin slices about 2-3 mm thick, and use filiform needles or fine needles to prick the middle of the ginger and garlic slices to create sieve-like holes to facilitate heat conduction and ventilation during moxibustion. Mashed garlic, onion, earthworms, etc. should all be washed and mashed into paste. For the medicine bottle, you should select the corresponding medicine, crush it into powder, mix it with rice wine, ginger juice or honey, and shape it into a pancake shape. You also need to pierce a sieve hole in the middle before use.

2. Moxibustion Methods

1. Direct moxibustion: Place the moxa cone of appropriate size directly on the skin for moxibustion. If the skin needs to be burned and festered during moxibustion, and scars are left after healing, it is called scar moxibustion. If the moxibustion does not cause skin burns or suppuration and does not leave scars, it is called scar-free moxibustion.

(1) Scar moxibustion. Also known as suppurative moxibustion: When applying moxibustion, first apply a small amount of garlic juice to the acupoint to increase adhesion and stimulation, then place a moxa cone of appropriate size on the acupoint and ignite the moxa cone with fire for moxibustion. Each moxa cone must be burned out and the ashes removed before continuing with the moxibustion until the prescribed number of moxibustions are completed. When moxibustion is applied, the fire will burn the skin and thus cause severe pain. In this case, you can gently pat around the moxibustion acupoints with your hands to relieve the pain. Under normal circumstances, about one week after moxibustion, the moxibustion site will become festered and form moxibustion sores. After about 5-6 weeks, the moxibustion sores will heal on their own, and the nodules will fall off, leaving scars. It is often used clinically to treat chronic diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, and scrofula.

(2) Scar-free moxibustion. When performing moxibustion, first apply a small amount of Vaseline on the acupoints to make it easier for the moxa cone to adhere. Then place the moxa cone of appropriate size on the acupoint and light it for moxibustion. When the moxibustion cone is two-fifths or one-quarter burned out and the patient feels a slight burning pain, you can change the cone and continue moxibustion. If a wheat-grain-sized moxa cone is used for moxibustion, when the patient feels a burning pain, the doctor can extinguish the moxa cone with the handle of tweezers, and then continue to move the cone and moxibustion until the prescribed number of times is completed. Generally, moxibustion should be applied until the local skin turns red but no blistering occurs. Because the skin is not burned, there will be no suppuration and no scars after moxibustion. This method can be used for general cold diseases.

2. Indirect moxibustion: It is a method of moxibustion that uses medicine to separate the moxa cone from the skin of the acupoint. Such as ginger moxibustion and salt moxibustion.

(1) Moxibustion through ginger. Fresh ginger is cut into thin slices with a diameter of about 2-3 cm and a thickness of about 0.2-0.3 cm. Several holes are pierced in the middle with a needle. The ginger slices are then placed on the acupoints or affected areas to be moxibustioned, and the moxa cones are then placed on the ginger slices and ignited for moxibustion. When the moxa sticks are burned out, replace them with new ones and continue moxibustion. Complete the prescribed number of moxibustion treatments until the skin becomes rosy without blisters. It is often used for vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and arthralgia caused by cold. Figure 148.

(2) Moxibustion with garlic. Use fresh garlic, cut it into slices 0.2-0.3 cm thick, poke several holes in the middle with a needle, and then place it on the acupoints or affected area to be moxibustioned. Then place the moxa cone on the garlic slices and light it for moxibustion. After the moxa cone has burned out, replace it with another one and continue moxibustioning until the prescribed number of times has been completed. This method is mostly used to treat scrofula, tuberculosis and initial swellings and ulcers.

In addition to moxibustion, a folk Chinese medicine therapy, there are also massage therapy, cupping therapy, acupuncture therapy, etc. These more distinctive therapies can solve many physical problems for us. Moreover, these special therapies can be used even if you are not sick, because they can all play a role in health care and keep the body healthy.