Thermal Properties of Direct and Indirect Moxibustion

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Moxibustion therapy chiefly utilizes heat generated by the combustion of moxa.
Therefore, understanding the thermal properties of moxibustion is essential when
studying the mechanisms involved in moxibustion therapy. Therefore, we measured
temperatures of direct and indirect moxibustion. For indirect moxibustion,
moxibustion on garlic was used. To determine the influence of the environment on
moxibustion, we applied airflow of 0.0−0.8 m/s. An increase in the airflow caused
a concomitant increase in the maximum temperature of direct moxibustion, from
160 to 300℃ and the time duration was reduced by half. However, the maximum
temperature of indirect moxibustion demonstrated the opposite effect, with the
temperature decreasing from 45 to 40℃. This is attributed to the upstream airflow,
which indicates the importance of the air inside moxa. For indirect moxibustion
using garlic slices of different thicknesses, we found the optimum condition for the
buffer layer of a garlic slice. The maximum number of consecutive moxibustions
using one garlic slice was three. These results are consistent with traditional methods.
This observation illustrates that the importance of garlic slices in modulating
the combustion heat and proper thermal stimulus to the patient.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Moxibustion therapy chiefly utilizes heat generated by the combustion of moxa.
Therefore, understanding the thermal properties of moxibustion is essential when
studying the mechanisms involved in moxibustion therapy. Therefore, we measured
temperatures of direct and indirect moxibustion. For indirect moxibustion,
moxibustion on garlic was used. To determine the influence of the environment on
moxibustion, we applied airflow of 0.0−0.8 m/s. An increase in the airflow caused
a concomitant increase in the maximum temperature of direct moxibustion, from
160 to 300℃ and the time duration was reduced by half. However, the maximum
temperature of indirect moxibustion demonstrated the opposite effect, with the
temperature decreasing from 45 to 40℃. This is attributed to the upstream airflow,
which indicates the importance of the air inside moxa. For indirect moxibustion
using garlic slices of different thicknesses, we found the optimum condition for the
buffer layer of a garlic slice. The maximum number of consecutive moxibustions
using one garlic slice was three. These results are consistent with traditional methods.
This observation illustrates that the importance of garlic slices in modulating
the combustion heat and proper thermal stimulus to the patient.

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