(1) Research on diseases of respiratory system
Massive clinical research confirms that acupuncture and moxibustion is quite effective to adjust function of respiratory system. Clinically, acupuncture is mainly used for treating acute bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, and bronchial asthma. Especially the bronchial asthma has a determined clinical curative effect.
Single point uses BL13. GV14, BL12. and other points of lung meridian. It is reported that. patients having had bronchial asthma for 0.5-5 days, needle GV14, BL12. and BL13, moxibustion with warmed needles, after needling, asthma, and the most exhale velocity-content curve is obviously improved. In stage of attack, mainly use needling, cupping, and point injection. In stage of remission, it is better using acupuncture, moxibustion, point external compress and point catgut embedding etc.
(2) Research on the disease of digestive system
Acupuncture and moxibustion is quite effective with the disease of digestive system. According to clinical observation, acupuncture and moxibustion can well and completely regulate the physical function of digestive system, manifested by regulating the secretion of saliva, the motion of esophagus, the function of stomach, liver, gallbladder, pancreas. intestine etc. It can treat more than 40 diseases of digestive system, which mainly are chronic gastritis, digestive ulcer, chronic enteritis, habitual constipation, etc. The treatment of single point mainly use ST36, CV12, ST25, BL20. BL21. PC6, LIll. SJ6, GB34. ST37. ST44, etc.
The methods for the treatment applied are acupuncture, moxibustion, point injection, catgut embedding therapy, auricular acupuncture, etc. Enema and application drugs on the points are also used. In the part of regulating function of acupuncture and moxibustion, according to the research, the acupoints of stomach meridian have obvious effect on the secretion of saliva, especially the local point ST6 and the lower-He Sea point of stomach meridian ST36. Needling in ST36 have impact on pulling force of stomach, stomach squiring rates, wave extent and time for emitting the stomach in regulating the stomach motion. For instance, needling ST36, ST34. CV12, etc. can remove gastro-spasm, release the pain and prevent vomiting clinically.
Acupuncture and moxibustion can enhance the pulling force of stomach to the patients with gastritis and improve the motion of stomach. Needling the stomach zone of auricular point can also promote the squirming of stomach and clear the obstacle for emitting the stomach due to the reduction of stomach pulling force or gastrectasis. According to the current research. ST36 improves the motion of stomach most remarkably. According to other research, acupuncture and moxibustion can obviously regulate the secretion of stomach fluid. For example, when the acidity of stomach fluid of the patients with chronic gastritis descends, needling can increase the secretion of stomach fluid.
When the situation is the opposite, needling can also reduce the secretion. For example, we stimulate CV12. ST36 separately with needling and moxibustion to treat duodenum ulcer. After six weeks of treatment, it is observed that acupuncture and moxibustion can remarkably control the secretion of stomach acid to the patients with duodenum ulcer and the secretion changes to normal condition. To the children with dyspepsia, needling ST36, LI4, Sp6. etc. can normal gastric acidity, free acidity and pepsin.
To the children with malnutrition. EX-UE10 can promote the activity of pepsin, cut down the high stomach acidity and raise the low. In conclusion, needling can control the over-secretion of stomach acid and stimulate the low-level-secretion. There is a report about the distinction of acupoints which says needling CV12. ST36 can promote the secretion of stomach fluid while needling of Sp4, PC6 and ST34 can control the secretion.
To observe the different effects of different points on the motion of intestine, somebody uses the frequency and density of intestine whistling as observation indexes. As a result, no matter with the healthy or the patients with stomach and duodenum problems, needling of ST36 has the most obvious effect while needling of GB34 and no-acupoint has no effect. To the patient with acute or chronic enteritis and dysentery caused by bacterium, the different points also show different impacts on intestine whistling.
(3) Research on diseases of cardiovascular system
Acupuncture and moxibustion can treat more than 30 types of diseases of cardiovascular system. They are mainly hypertension. coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, shock, etc. The treatment of single point mainly uses PC6. ST36, BL15. BL14, PC4. LR3. ST40. LI11, etc. The methods applied include needling, moxibustion. auricular acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, point injection, catgut embedding therapy, combination of acupuncture and herbal drugs, etc.
According to clinical observation. acupuncture and moxibustion can regulate heart rates, heart rhythm and heart function positively and bilaterally. The regulation not only is distinctive according to different points, such as the relative strong effect of needling PC6 and ST36. but also determined by different techniques and stimulations, for instance, reinforcing causes the slow-down of heart rates and reducing causes the speed-up of heart rates.
In treating the coronary heart disease, needling or electro-acupuncture PC6 can increase the blood flow and reduce the obstruction in coronary artery, enhance the oxygen and blood supplement for cardiac muscle, improve the anemia of cardiac muscle obviously, maintain the relative stability of motion of cardiac muscle, meliorate blood pumping, decrease the damage due to acute anemia of cardiac muscle.
In the process of studying the peculiar function of PC6 to treat the heart disease, it is found that needling of PC6 can lower endodermine in blood plasma for the patients with anemia of cardiac muscle, which from indirect resources proves that PC6 has peculiar biological effect and regulation function on cardiovascular system.
Needling can adjust the stretching and shrinking of the vessel and open and close of capillary vessel. Somebody uses vessel capacity, diagram of blood flow and the skin temperature as indexes and finds ST36, Llll, LI4, SJ5, PC6, Lu7. ST40, GB34, etc. can all cause the change of the vessel capacity of vessel in the calf. The effect can be strong when needling LI4, ST36. To the healthy people, the mild stimulation of ST36, Llll, LI4, etc. causes shrinking of vessel while the strong stimulation causes expansion of vessel.
In the light of this, needling of different points causes stretch or shrinking and different extent of these reactions. Besides, different techniques of needling at the same point also have different impacts on the same part of the vessel. The treatment of single point is quite effective with hypertension in stage I and stage II. According to an observation of 32 cases with hypertension, which include checking the quantity of endodermin in blood plasma and hypertension before and after the needling treatment. The result shows that needling of LI11 and ST40 lower the hypertension by counteracting the rising of endodermin in blood plasma.