moxibustion
Meaning of moxibustion: Burning a dried herb at or above the skin to heat a chosen point, a practice defined by warmth where acupuncture is defined by needles.
Definition of moxibustion
Moxibustion is a treatment in traditional Chinese medicine in which dried mugwort, prepared as a loose wool or pressed into a cone or a stick, is burned on or just above the skin. The heat is aimed at an acupuncture point or a painful area. Practitioners describe it as warming the body and moving what they call stagnant energy, and it is often combined with needling.
What are the main forms?
They differ in how close the burning herb comes to the skin, which is also what decides the risk of a burn.
| Form | What happens |
|---|---|
| Direct, scarring | A small cone burns down onto the skin, leaving a blister and a scar |
| Direct, non-scarring | The cone is removed once heat is felt, before the skin burns |
| Indirect | A slice of ginger, garlic or a layer of salt separates herb from skin |
| Moxa stick | A glowing cigar-shaped roll is held above the point |
| Warm needling | Herb is burned on the handle of an inserted needle |
What is it used for?
Practitioners apply it to joint and muscle pain, digestive complaints, period pain and fatigue, and traditionally to conditions described as cold in nature. The use that has attracted the most formal study is quite specific: heating a point beside the outer corner of the little toenail in late pregnancy, in an attempt to turn a baby lying bottom-down. Trials of that use have produced inconsistent results and reviews have not settled the question, partly because the technique, timing and number of sessions differ between studies. Evidence for the other indications is weaker still and rests largely on small trials without adequate comparison groups.
What harms are documented?
Burns and blisters are the obvious ones, and with the scarring form they are the intended outcome rather than a complication. Infection of a burn site, allergic skin reactions, and irritation of the eyes and airways by the dense smoke have all been reported, and case reports describe carbon monoxide building up when a session runs long in an unventilated room. The acupuncture point map it borrows is the same one used in acupuncture, so the two are usually taught and practiced together.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
The practitioner combined moxibustion with needling at the same points.
Good to know
Burns, blistering and scarring are inherent to the direct form rather than complications of it, and the dense smoke produced has been linked in case reports to airway irritation and to carbon monoxide accumulation in unventilated rooms.
Word origin
Where “moxibustion” comes from
Moxa comes from the Japanese mogusa, the mugwort that is burned, joined to the Latin combustio, meaning a burning up.