Celestial Lancets

Download or read book Celestial Lancets written by Gwei-Djen Lu and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-11-12 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using modern knowledge to shed light on ancient techniques, this text examines two of the earliest therapeutic techniques of Chinese medicine: acupuncture and moxibustion. Acupuncture is the implantation of very thin needles into subcutaneous connective tissue and muscle at a great number of different points on the body's surface; moxibustion is the burning of Artemisia tinder (moxa) either directly on the skin or just above it. For 2500 years the Chinese have used both techniques to relieve pain and to heal a wide variety of illnesses and malfunctions. Providing a full historical account of acupuncture and moxibustion in the theoretical structure of Chinese medicine, Doctors Lu and Needham combine it with a rationale of the two techniques in the light of modern scientific knowledge.