For the treatment of a wide range of disorders moxibustion is often used along with acupuncture. These two modalities are related to each other that they have a corresponding name; zhenjiu. Zhen = needle while jiu = burn. The frequent use of these two treatments together has led to a new term called acu-moxa. In order to get to know this treatment better, one needs to know its origins.
Moxibustion is a modality component of traditional Chinese medicine in Bellingham. It can treat sicknesses by stimulating the meridians and Marlton acupuncture points with heat. It was invented almost along with the discovery of the use of fire by stone-age humans. The use of heat as a form treatment is universal and can be evidenced by its usage by the people in ancient Greece and Rome. Our stone-age ancestors have discovered that fire not only can keeps them warm and cozy but also can make their food more tasty and warm as well as help treat some of their illnesses.
The case of needles being part of a treatment procedure may not be a normal and natural way to treat sickness but strangely in some unknown way became the norm of treatment thousands of years ago activity in the form of acupuncture. People would normally not be excited to be pricked with needles. They naturally associate needles with pain and discomfort. A study done in the US using needles the size of acupuncture needles on rabbits resulted in damage to the rabbit’s nerve fibers. During ancient times, the needles used were unfortunately big and thick and one can just imagine what the patient had to undergo when these needles were stuck into his body.
Even if an acupuncture treatment was painful, it does not result in permanent or long term injury on people. People who are suffering from acute or chronic disorders often will try anything even acupuncture if it meant treating the resolution of their problems. People who fear acupuncture often are afraid of the pain they think comes with acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture also gets a bad rap when the news report of inexperienced and poorly trained acupuncturists botching their treatments.
The medical art of acupuncture was invented in China. No other ancient civilization has been recorded as using this type of treatment for illnesses and pain. Traditional and medical acupuncturists follow basically the same tenets of treatment and use needles in the same manner as were directed on the earliest known discourse on acupuncture (circa 104-34 BC). The advancement of modern technology and other modern acupuncture innovations techniques such as point stimulation or acupressure have not replaced the needling procedure that is sill the most popular form of acupuncture treatment around today.