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Most of us have been tapped with needles in various parts of the body to get relived of terrible pains. Yes, you are focusing on the right aspect Acupuncture, but do you know that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practice adds more to it and has been drawing this technique from several centuries.

Frozen shoulders, acute sinusitis, osteoarthritis in knee and many similar cases are treated with Acu-Moxibustion which is also known as ‘Zhen Jiu’. This treatment, as a part of TCM, combines the use of needles along with burning of moxa herb.

Dr Gu Falong is a medical director and senior acupuncturist at Hua Mei Acupuncture and TCM Clinic in Bukit Merah, Singapore who has been using this technique from the past thirty years and has successfully cured many patients suffering from such ailments.

In this technique, a needle is tapped in the body with moxa herb set alight at the end which is extended beyond and heat of 40° C is passed down the needle and into the body. The moxa herb is sand colored and generally takes three to four minutes to burn. While carrying out this process, almost 10 – 11 needles are placed together which burn simultaneously, pass on the heat to nerves and make them less sensitive. The smoke after burning moxa herb can irritate the eyes and nose of the practitioner as well as the patient, so at Hua Mei Acupuncture and TCM Clinic, special ventilation system is incorporated that aerates the air swiftly.

Moreover, fire guards are also used to trim down the risk of any injury to the patient. Dr. Gu Falong says that these days moxa herb is not used in this process, but when two are combined, the results are far better. As perceived, acupuncture works on the principle of applying external force, while Acu-Moxibustion works through infra red radiation which penetrates upto 10mm in depth thus allowing cells and tissues to absorb the heat.

This is the reason when moxa herb is combined with acupuncture, the effects are quite powerful and efficient. At times, moxa is used with garlic and ginger, as garlic can be drawn on for respiratory problems and ginger for gastric related problems. A disc of garlic and ginger is sited and moxa herb is set alight on the top along with sending heat through garlic and ginger.

Dr Gu Falong explained that TB patients in Shanghai university were able to recover fast as they were given Western medicine with TCM garlic and moxa treatment. In addition to this, cancer patients can also make progress faster when TCM oral herbal remedies are clubbed together with chemo therapy. So, with this Dr Gu Falong concluded that both Western medicine and TCM work well, but when combined, their results are incredibly influential.

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