Impacts on the skin temperature by the different distances of moxibustion: discussion on the safe distance of moxibusiton / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the impacts of the different distances of moxibustion on local skin temperature and provide a safy distance of moxibustion.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Three healthy adult volunteers were included. The pure moxa stick (without other herbs mixed together) was used. The moxa-stick moxibustion and the mild moxibustion (with moxa box) were applied to Zusanli (ST 36) on the right side and Guanyuan (CV 4) respectively. The distance from moxibustion to the local skin was 2 cm, 3 cm and 4 cm separately. The moxibustion time was limited by 3 cm stick burned out. The infrared thermography was adopted to record and store thermal images and made the systematic analysis. The same trial was repeated on the second day. The means of the skin temperature measured at each acupoint each time was taken as the results for the analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) Moxibustion with moxa box at Guanyuan (CV 4): at the distance of 4 cm, the local skin temperature at over 44 degrees C [(44.1 +/- 1.3)-(46.7 +/- 1.5) degrees C)] lasted 7 min; at the distance of 3 cm, the local skin temperature at over 44 degrees C [(44.1 +/- 1.3)-(49.3 +/- 2.0) degrees C] lasted about 10 min and that at over 49 degrees C [(49.0 +/- 2.1)-(49.3 +/- 2.0) degrees C)] lasted 2 min; at the distance of 2 cm, the observation could not be followed due to local burning pain. (2) Moxa-stick moxibustion at Zusanli (ST 36): at the distance of 4 cm, the skin temperature was ranged from (40.0 +/- 2.0) degrees C to (44.9 +/- 2.3) degrees C; at the distance of 3 cm, in 1 min of moxibustion, the skin temperature increased over 44 degrees C, sustaining in the range from (45.9 +/- 3.0) degrees C to (47.8 +/- 2.0) degrees C; at the distance of 2 cm, the observation could not be followed due to local burning pain.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In moxibustion, the closer the moxa stick to the skin is, the higher the local skin temperature is. No matter with stick moxibustion or box moxibustion, the distance of moxa stick to the skin should be in the range from 3 to 4 cm.</p>

Clinical observation on the relation between the confident degree of the patient with pain in acupuncture and moxibustion with the therapeutic effect / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand preliminary relation between patient's confident degree in acupuncture and moxibustion with the therapeutic effect on pain.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifteen cases with pain were investigated. The confident degree for acupuncture and moxibustion and pain degree were evaluated by the patient with visual analogue scale (VAS), and the pain VAS scores before and after acupuncture were recorded as the indexes for assessment of the therapeutic effect.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After acupuncture treatment, the average pain VAS score was decreased by 3.3 +/- 2.8 (P< 0 . 5). There was no significant correlativity between the patient's confident degree VAS and the pain VAS change rate before and after the treatment (R = 0.62, P = 0.83).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There is no significant correlativity between the confident degree of the patient of pain in acupuncture and moxibustion and clinical therapeutic effect.</p>