Clinical trials in which treatment is Moxibustion

Abstract

Moxibustion is one of the most used treatments that are part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The moxibustion treatment involves herbal materials called moxa that is placed on different points of the human body, in most cases it is placed on ACU points, which is stimulating the qi energy circulation in the patient’s body, as it is explained in the materials and books that are providing information regarding Traditional Chinese Medicine. There are couple of known practices in moxibustion, there is a direct method that can cause a little scar on the treated point, there is direct method, in which the moxa is taken out prior to the forming of the scar, and there is third method which is indirect method, this method is used with previously prepared moxa which is held near the acupuncture point, and it is warming up the acupuncture point. There are some other various ways of using moxibustion. One of them is placing the moxa on acupuncture needle and inserting the acupuncture needle in the patient’s body, and as expected there are a new modern way of placing the moxas on the patient’s body. Most of the clinical trials organized to prove the efficacy of moxibustion are with low quality and does not provide a lot of information about this method of treatment. Most of the Clinical trials are organized in People’s Republic of China, however there are organized clinical trials for this method of treatment in other countries. Possible Adverse Events that can occur during this treatment are burns, infection, pain, and nausea. The number of Adverse Events is not that high, that is one of the reasons for using this method as a treatment for a lot of cases by the practitioners, practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine. More clinical trials are needed so the efficacy of this method can be proven, and this method can be accepted as a treatment in the whole world.

Keywords: Moxibustion, Moxa, Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi energy