What is Moxibustion?
Moxibustion is a traditional Chinese medicine technique that involves the burning of mugwort, a small, spongy herb to facilitate healing. Moxibustion has been used throughout Asia for thousands of years; in fact, the actual Chinese character for acupuncture, translated literally, means “acupuncture-moxibustion.” The purpose of moxibustion, as with most forms of traditional Chinese medicine, is to strengthen the blood, stimulate the flow of qi, and maintain general health. In particular, moxibustion is used on people who have a cold or stagnant condition. The burning of moxa is believed to expel cold and warm the meridians, which leads to smoother flow of qi and blood. This is why moxa can be used to treat any kind of pain due to cold or blood stagnation.
In our practice, we apply moxa frequently to improve the blood flow and warm the meridian in the pelvic area for treatment of menstrual cramp, infertility due to cold uterus, lower back pain, and breech babies, to name a few. A landmark study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998 found that up to 75% of women suffering from breech presentations before childbirth had fetuses that rotated to the normal position after receiving moxibustion at an acupuncture point on the Bladder meridian..