Research on the subcutaneous circulatory effects of dry fire treatment and moxibustion in the treatment of cold intolerance

• 1、Beijing University of Chinese Medcine, School of Acupuncture and Tuina, 100020

Abstract：[Objective] To research the changes in surface temperature and degree of cold intolerance using dry fire treatment and moxibustion to treat yang deficient cold intolerance.[Methods] Subjects of the study had a history of at least 3 months of yang deficient cold intolerance in their lower limbs. Dry fire treatment was applied to the subject\'s right calf and moxibustion was applied at BL55 and BL57 on the left calf. An infrared camera was used to measure the surface temperature and VAS forms were used to assess the degree of cold intolerance before and after treatments. [Results] 1) Compared with pretreatment temperatures, both groups showed a significant temperature increase over the entire calf immediately after treatment(P<0.01), and the average temperature for the dry fire treatment group was significantly higher than that of the moxibustion group(P<0.01). 2）After the first treatment, the dry fire treatment group showed a significant average temperature difference between BL57 and BL55 (P<0.05),but showed no difference after the second treatment. The moxibustion group showed no difference after either treatment. 3) 6 min after dry fire treatment, a comparison of the surface temperature at the two points BL55, BL57 with the entire calf showed significant difference between BL57 and the entire calf for the first treatment (P<0.05), but no difference with either point during the second treatment. Moxibustion showed a significant difference between both points and the entire calf for both treatment sessions. (P<0.05) 4) For both groups, the pretreatment temperature for the second treatment was lower than the pretreatment temperature for the first treatment; the two treatments were 48 hours apart. 5) Both groups showed a statistically significant improvement in VAS scores (P<0.05); for the first treatment the dry fire treatment group decreased 48% in cold intolerance, and moxibustion decreased 40%; for the second treatment, dry fire decreased 56% and moxibustion decreased 62%.[Discussion] The results show that both dry fire treatment and moxibustion can decrease cold intolerance, and are both effective treatments for cold intolerance. Dry fire treatment shows greater uniformity of heat distribution over the entire calf than does moxibustion, but moxibustion shows less temperature difference between the two treatment points. Although both treatment groups showed significant improvement in cold intolerance, but both groups also showed a decrease in surface temperature after 48 hours.

Keywords： dry fire treatment infrared imaging moxibustion surface temperature thermotherapy