A Preliminary Study on Warm Acupuncture and Moxibustion for Treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease with Abdominal Distension

We propose a standardized manipulation of warm acupuncture and moxibustion for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, combined with abdominal distension. This method can help answer key questions in the field of COPD with abdominal distension. The main advantages of warm acupuncture and moxibustion include the method's high effectiveness in operation, ease of performance, and affordability.

These forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine treatments can benefit many patients. Our laboratory will be committed to studying the basic mechanism of warm acupuncture and moxibustion to alleviate COPD with abdominal distension. Our future work will focus on establishing more intelligent manipulations of warming acupuncture and moxibustion.

Begin by preparing the required equipment for the procedure, which includes disposable sterile acupuncture needles, moxa sticks, medical sterilization swabs, iodophor swabs, a lighter, and several cardboards. Before proceeding with the patient preparation, wear a medical mask and hat. Then wash hands thoroughly with disinfectant.

Once the hands are dried, apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Next, measure the patient's blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation. Inspect the skin of the desired areas for any signs of damage or infection.

If the basic vitals are normal, guide the patient to assume a supine or prone position to expose the acupuncture points. Wipe the skin of the sites to be needled with iodophor swabs. Following the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, select the standardized acupuncture points, Zhongwen, or REN-12, Taiyuan, or LU-9, Tianshu, or ST-25, Zusanli, or ST-36, Dinchuan, or EX-B1, and Feishu, or BL-13.

Stretch out flat the five fingers of the left hand, placing the index and middle fingers on both sides of the stabbing site. Grip the needle handle between the thumb and index finger of the right hand with the end of the middle finger near the needle tip and the finger belly against the needle body. Apply downward pressure with the thumb and index finger while flexing the middle finger to insert the needle.

Once positioned, uniformly lift and thrust the needle handle along the acupuncture angle at an appropriate depth and frequency. Then rotate the needle handle forward and backward at an angle of 180 degrees or less until the patient feels de qi. Lit the moxa stick from the bottom and place the moxa stick about two to three centimeters from the skin on the acupuncture needle inserted in the acupoint, such that the patient feels a warm sensation and there is redness on the body surface.

Place a cardboard under the moxa stick to prevent the ash from burning the skin and continue treatment until the stick burns out. Using the end of a bamboo swab, gently pick up the burned out moxa stick. Afterward, remove the cardboard from the acupoint and with a medical sterilization swab, apply slight pressure to the needle site.

Perform a small twist with the needle, slowly lift it to a subcutaneous level, and leave it there briefly before withdrawing it. After removing the needle, using a medical sterilization swab, gently press the puncture site momentarily to avoid bleeding and reduce pain. Inspect all the puncture sites for any sign of bleeding and inquire about the patient's comfort level.

Finally, count the needles to ensure all needles are removed from the puncture sites. CAT scores of the observation group, which received warm acupuncture, moxibustion, and basic treatment, and the control group, which received basic treatment with pseudo needling showed that the scores of both groups after treatment were lower than those before treatment. Moreover, the scores of the observation group were lower than those of the control group.

The abdominal distension visual analog score of both groups lowered after treatment as compared to those before treatment. The scores of the observation group were lower than those of the control group.