Correspondent Zhang Quanlu
Acupuncture and moxibustion are the essence of TCM external treatment, so the acupuncture therapy of acupuncture and the thermal therapy of moxibustion, Can the two be combined? The answer is “Electric Needle”. Simply put, let the traditional Chinese medicine silver needle of “calling” pierce the acupuncture point, and through heating, the two therapies of acupuncture and heat can form a combined force. Yesterday, 73-year-old mother-in-law Zhang got rid of back pain for more than a year.
About a year ago, the 73-year-old mother-in-law Zhang has been suffering from constant pain between her shoulder blades. For a year, she has sought medical treatment everywhere, but has not been able to relieve it. In March this year, she came to the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital for medical treatment. Tu Shaoheng, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, after conducting TCM syndrome differentiation and physical examination, believed that the back pain of her mother-in-law was caused by a long-term block of meridians and collaterals. Ordinary medicines are difficult to reach the lesions, and the effect is slow and limited. Electrothermal acupuncture can be used for treatment.
Although Granny Zhang doesn’t know what electric acupuncture is, her pain was relieved after one treatment. After completing a course of treatment (5 times) as prescribed by the doctor, her back pain has completely disappeared. Yesterday, she made a special trip to send a pennant to the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine to express her gratitude.
Tu Shaoheng said that electrothermal acupuncture is to pierce a needle equipped with a heating device into a subcutaneous acupoint, and after finding a “needle feeling” (sore, numbness and pain), it is heated by electricity, so that the needle body heat stimulates the corresponding acupoint. It has the functions of dredging the meridians, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, softening and dispelling knots. This is the reason why Grandma Zhang was able to heal.
Actually, before electrothermal acupuncture, traditional acupuncture in my country had “fire needle” therapy, which is to heat the needles with fire and then pierce the skin to treat local lumps or pain. However, although the fire needle has a warming effect, the temperature is unstable, it is easy to burn the skin, and the warming effect is not long-lasting. Thus, a warm acupuncture was born, which is to add burning moxa to the needle end exposed on the body surface to transfer heat from the body to the body. But this needle heat can only penetrate about 1 mm under the skin.
Tu Shaoheng introduced: Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners have been looking for the perfect combination of “acupuncture” and “moxibustion” for a long time. At the end of the last century, Xia Yuqing, a famous Chinese acupuncturist, invented electric heating needles by heating silver needles with electricity. With the continuous improvement of technology, the heat sensation of electric heating needles can penetrate from the acupoints to about 10 mm under the skin, which can not only ensure the body temperature (about 38 ℃), but also does not easily cause burns on the body surface. At present, this treatment method is becoming a new magic weapon for Chinese medicine practitioners. The Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the Municipal Pulmonary Hospital found in clinical practice that this therapy has obvious effects on diseases such as deficiency of the spleen and stomach, stasis of the meridians and collaterals, palace cold, and cold-damp arthralgia.