Acupoint sticking therapy is based on the meridian theory of traditional Chinese medicine, which grinds the medicine into fine powder, concocts it into paste with water, vinegar, wine, egg white, honey, vegetable oil, cool oil, liquid medicine and even saliva, or makes it into paste, pill or cake with solidified oil (such as vaseline), yellow vinegar, rice and jujube paste, or decocts the traditional Chinese medicine into paste, or sprinkles the powder on the plaster. It is an important part of TCM therapeutics and a unique and effective treatment method summed up by the working people in China in their long-term struggle against diseases. It has experienced numerous development processes of practice, cognition, re-practice and re-cognition, and has a very long history of development.
As early as in primitive society, people used things like leaves and grass stems to smear wounds to treat the trauma caused by fighting with wild animals, and gradually found that some plants can stop pain and stop bleeding, and even accelerate wound healing. This is the origin of the application of Chinese medicine to treat diseases. 1973, the earliest extant monograph "Fifty-two Prescriptions for Diseases" was unearthed in the Han Tomb No.3 Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province, which recorded that "gnats ... printed thistles on it", that is, mustard seed paste was applied to Baihui point to make local skin red and treat snake bites. The book also contains methods of applying externally to wounds, such as "dressing", "smearing" and "feng 'an". The information on analgesic and disinfection of externally applied medicinal liquor is the earliest record of externally applied medicinal liquor, which is widely used by future generations.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the function and curative effect of acupoint sticking therapy have been gradually applied to clinic. "Lingshu Jing" records: "The tendons of the foot Yangming ... the mental tendons are cold, which will cause the cheeks to move day by day, and the tendons will be slow when they are hot, so it is difficult to pull them out. Treat it with horse ointment, daub it with white wine and cinnamon, and daub it slowly ... ",which was praised as the treatment method of plaster by later generations and pioneered the modern plaster.
In Treatise on Febrile Diseases, Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage in the Eastern Han Dynasty, described various external treatment methods such as burning, ironing, external application and medicated bath, and listed various applied prescriptions, such as Wuyang ointment and Yuquan ointment, which are still effective in guiding clinical practice. "The Secret Biography of the Imperial Doctor" Hua Tuo treats gangrene "with great licorice, grinded into fine powder and coated with extremely strong sesame oil. Change every day and recover in ten days. "
During the Jin and Tang Dynasties, acupoint sticking therapy has been widely used in clinic. Jin's "Elbow Backup Emergency Prescription" records that "malaria is more cold and less hot, or cold but not hot, and when it comes, it is covered with vinegar and aconite powder", and a large number of external plasters are used, such as Radix Dipsaci, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae, Realgar Plaster and Wudushen Plaster. And the specific preparation method is indicated. Its method of treating rabies through external application of rabies brain trauma is a pioneer in immunology. In Sun Zhenren's Maritime Prescription, Tang Sun Simiao wrote: "Children cry at night, stay up all night, have bitter water to decoct and take, and stick it on the navel, which is quiet and natural", and put forward that they should rub their feet with green rubbing salt water when they are not sick. Get moving and avoid the idea of "chilling" and asking for disease prevention first.
During the Song and Ming Dynasties, the external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine was constantly improved and innovated, which greatly enriched the content of acupoint application therapy. For example, in the Song Dynasty's Taiping Shenghui Fang, it was recorded that "the wind is windy, the waist and legs are cold and painful, and the three umbilicus in front of Sichuan are peeled and coated with silk, which will stop in a moment." It is pointed out in the General Record of Shengji that "Ointment moistens its ointment to dispel evil and detoxify, and ointment can wipe away any gas hidden in the skin", and the mechanism of applying ointment to treat diseases in traditional Chinese medicine is preliminarily discussed. There are descriptions of "deep nose and brain diarrhea, raw aconite powder, onion paste and Yongquan point" in Puji Fang in Ming Dynasty. There are many acupoint application therapies in Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, which are widely known and widely used. For example, "treat abdominal edema, mash it with bare roots and stick it on the umbilical heart, and tie it with silk." If it is convenient, the swelling will disappear. " In addition, Evodia rutaecarpa is intimately used to treat sores on the mouth and tongue, and Coptidis Rhizoma powder is still used to treat children's eyes.
By the Qing Dynasty, it can be said that acupoint application therapy was relatively mature, and many monographs on external treatment of traditional Chinese medicine appeared, among which Guangsheng First Aid Collection and Li Long Parallel Prose were the most famous. Guangshengji First Aid, also known as the Secret Recipe of Deshengtang's External Treatment, was carefully compiled by Cheng Pengzhi after decades. The experience and methods of acupoint external application for more than 1000 years before Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty were recorded in detail, and it was emphasized that "taboo" and "lust" should be paid attention to during the treatment. It is a classic for later generations to study and apply external treatment. Fifty-nine years after the publication of First Aid to Guang Sheng Ji, Wu Shiji, a "school of external therapy", combined with his clinical experience, made a systematic arrangement and theoretical exploration of external therapy, and wrote a book entitled Li Long Parallel Prose. In the book, the treatment of various diseases is mainly based on thin plaster, supplemented by acupoint application, ironing, washing, trembling, rubbing and other external treatments, and the scope of acupoint application therapy is extended to internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, children, skin, facial features and so on, and the conclusion that "ointment cures all diseases" is put forward. According to the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the mechanism, prescription and specific application of external treatment of internal diseases are discussed in detail. And put forward the argument that external therapy should be divided into the twelve meridians and drugs should be put on the same principle as acupuncture.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, experts and scholars have made textual research, research and sorting out the documents of past dynasties, and made bold explorations. They not only use this method to treat common diseases, but also use this method to treat tuberculosis, cirrhosis, coronary heart disease, hypertension, infectious diseases and other difficult diseases. For example, Huayu ointment made of anticancer Chinese medicine has achieved reliable results in the external treatment of cancer, which not only has the effect of relieving pain, but also reduces the tumor. Especially in today's rapid development of science and technology, the emergence of many marginal and interdisciplinary subjects has injected new vitality into acupoint application therapy. On the one hand, using the knowledge and technology of modern biology and physics, new therapeutic instruments are developed to cooperate with acupoint application for external treatment. On the other hand, many instruments that mainly promote drug absorption and are convenient to use have been developed. What is particularly gratifying is that we have begun to pay attention to absorbing the achievements of modern pharmacy to reform the dosage form and use method: there are irons prepared by adding the benefits of chemical heating, such as warm moxibustion ointment instead; Use rubber and compounding agent (zinc oxide, vaseline, etc.). ) as matrix, adding volatile oil or extract extracted from traditional Chinese medicine to make plaster, such as Musk Tiger Bone Plaster, Arthralgia Plaster and Musk Dysmenorrhea Plaster. A drug film-like solid silk preparation or coating agent prepared by dissolving or decomposing drugs in a film-forming material such as a blister film; In addition, transdermal absorption enhancers are added to the patch to promote the uniform, lasting and efficient penetration of therapeutic drugs into the skin, such as compound Datura flower cough relieving and asthma relieving ointment.
Acupoint sticking therapy not only has a wide influence in China, but also gradually rises abroad. For example, the contraceptive cream invented by the medical department of the University of Munich in Germany can get good contraceptive effect by sticking it under the armpit. Traditional Chinese medicine plaster developed by Japan Taisho Co., Ltd. is very popular with people, such as pepper plaster for warming meridians, promoting blood circulation and relieving pain.
The mechanism of acupoint sticking therapy is complex and not completely clear. We think its possible mechanism has the following three aspects: first, the stimulation and regulation of acupoints; The second is the pharmacodynamic effect after drug absorption; The third is the comprehensive superposition of the two.
(1) Acupoint function
Meridian "belongs to zang-fu organs in the interior, connects the exterior and the interior, and runs through the upper and lower parts", which is the channel for human body to circulate qi and blood, while acupoint is the intersection of the above substances in the running path, and it is the place where lung qi originates and people March proudly. According to the theory of viscera and meridians in TCM, acupoints are closely related to viscera through meridians, which not only reflect the physiological or pathological functions of viscera, but also are effective stimulation points for treating viscera diseases. All kinds of pathogenic pathogens stay in the human body, and the function of zang-fu organs is damaged and affected, which leads to the obstruction of meridians and the poor operation of qi and blood, thus causing various diseases. At this time, numbness, pain, redness, nodules or specific sensitive areas (bands) may appear in the meridian circulation parts (especially the acupoints). The application of acupoint sticking therapy stimulates and acts on the skin corresponding to the acupoints on the body surface, and corrects the deficiency and excess of viscera and yin through the conduction and adjustment of meridians, thus improving the operation of qi and blood in meridians, producing good treatment and conditioning effects on the physiological functions and pathological conditions of five zang-organs, and achieving the purpose of consolidating the exterior with skin and nourishing the exterior with poison.
(II) Pharmacodynamic effect
Qing Xu Da Chun once said: "decocting medicine is not enough to cure all diseases ... sticking it with plaster, blocking its qi, making the medicine enter its meridians from pores, dredging the meridians, or extracting or dispersing it, which is particularly powerful than taking medicine." The medicine directly acts on body surface acupoints or superficial lesions, dilates local blood vessels, accelerates blood circulation, and has the functions of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, clearing away heat and toxic materials, relieving swelling and pain, stopping bleeding and promoting granulation, diminishing inflammation and expelling pus, and improving nutrition of surrounding tissues. It can also make drugs pass through the skin and hair from the outside to the inside, connect the viscera and communicate with the outside through the operation of meridians, and play a powerful medicinal role. As "Li Zhuo Parallel Prose" said: "Into the skin, into the meat, inhale, melt into the exudate". Combined with its medication, it can eliminate pathogenic factors, pull out toxic gases and inhibit pathogenic factors from clearing away; It can strengthen the body resistance, regulate the health, regulate the lifting, regulate the yin and yang, and protect the five internal organs; It can depress five depressed qi and turn resources into resources.
We know that the factors affecting the transdermal absorption of drugs are closely related to the inherent permeability of skin besides the physical and chemical properties and pharmacological properties of drugs. Modern medicine has proved that Chinese medicine can be completely absorbed from the skin. The skin absorption ways of drugs at acupoints mainly include: first, percutaneous absorption, through arterial passage, stratum corneum transport (including intracellular diffusion and interstitial diffusion) and deep epidermal transport and absorption, drugs can enter the blood circulation through one or more ways; The second is to replenish water. The stratum corneum is the main barrier of transdermal absorption, and its water content is a function of the relative temperature of the environment. The external application of traditional Chinese medicine "sucks but doesn't take off" and "closes the gas but doesn't drain", which partially forms a closed state where sweat is difficult to evaporate and spread, and increases the water content of stratum corneum from 5% ~ 15% to 50%. After absorbing water, the stratum corneum hydrates the skin, making the cells of the stratum corneum expand into a porous state and make it dense. Studies have proved that the transdermal rate of drugs can be increased by 4 ~ 5 times, and the skin temperature can be increased from 32℃ to 37℃, accelerating local blood circulation. Third, the role of surfactants, the lead soap contained in the application is a surfactant, which can promote passive diffusion and absorption and increase the permeability of sebum film to drugs; Fourth, the promotion of aromatic drugs. Aromatic drugs in the application prescription contain volatile olefins, aldehydes, ketones, phenols and alcohols, and their strong permeability and migration can improve the transdermal ability of corticosteroids by 8 ~ 10 times.
(3) Comprehensive function
Acupoint sticking therapy is an organic combination of traditional acupuncture therapy and drug therapy, and its essence is a compound treatment method integrating meridians, acupoints and drugs, not just a single factor at work.
As we know, under normal circumstances, oral administration of a medicine can cure diseases, and external application of a medicine can also cure diseases. For example, oral mirabilite can cure constipation, and umbilical application can also cure constipation. But sometimes there are exceptions, that is, external use of a drug can cure the disease, but oral administration of a drug can not cure the disease. For example, green onions can cure constipation, but oral green onions can't cure constipation. In addition, there are many single herbs, such as fried onion, fried salt and fried garlic, which are used to treat diseases with different syndromes. It is difficult to understand that one drug can treat diseases with multiple syndromes only from the perspective of syndrome differentiation and drug indications. We believe that in addition to the effective bioactive substances of traditional Chinese medicine, there are also external sensitivity and amplification effects of warm stimulation and meridian points themselves. We also found that different drugs were used at the same acupoint to treat the same disease, and the curative effect was different. As a patch for treating asthma, the curative effect of asthma pill (Semen Sinapis Albae, Rhizoma Corydalis, Radix Kansui, Herba Asari, Flos Caryophylli, Cortex Cinnamomi, and ginger juice) is obviously better than that of asthma cream (Rhizoma Arisaematis, Semen Sinapis Albae, and ginger juice), so the medicinal properties also play a certain role. Some choose different application sites or acupoints according to different diseases, which shows the role of acupoints and meridians. For example, coughing sticks to the sky Dingchuan point and Shu Fei point have obvious curative effect, but sticking other points or non-points has no obvious curative effect; Shenque point is the first choice for enuresis and dysmenorrhea.
This shows that acupoint application is a comprehensive effect on human body, including both the stimulating effect of drugs on acupoints and the effect of drugs themselves, and in general, several therapeutic factors often interact, influence and complement each other. * * * plays an overall superimposed therapeutic role, first of all, the warm stimulation of drugs adjusts local qi and blood, and the combination of warm stimulation and external application of drugs will inevitably increase the curative effect of drugs. Many spicy Chinese medicines are particularly easy to be absorbed in a warm environment, thus enhancing the functions of the medicines. When the medicine is externally applied to the acupoints, it can stimulate the acupoints themselves, stimulate the qi of the meridians, and mobilize the functions of the meridians, so as to better play the overall role of promoting qi and blood circulation and nourishing yin and yang.
Acupoint sticking therapy has the following characteristics:
(a) direct action, wide indications
Acupoint sticking therapy is that drugs directly stimulate acupoints, and the local drug concentration is significantly higher than other parts through transdermal absorption, which has a relatively direct effect. Its indications are all over clinical departments, "it can be used in parallel with internal treatment, but it can make up for the deficiency of internal treatment", and it can often achieve unexpected and remarkable curative effects on many chronic diseases.
(2) The drugs are safe and there is no punishment.
Acupoint sticking therapy is not administered through gastrointestinal tract, and it has no harm to spleen and stomach. It does not commit a crime in treatment, does not commit a crime in treatment, and does not commit a crime in treatment. Even if skin allergy or blisters appear in clinical application, you can stop taking drugs in time and give symptomatic treatment. The symptoms will soon disappear and you can continue to use them.
(3) easy learning and popularization
Acupoint application has many simple drug compatibility and preparation, which is easy to learn and use, and does not need special medical equipment and instruments. Whether it is a doctor, a patient or a family member, you can use it while learning.
(d) A wide range of materials, cheap and thrifty drugs.
Except rare medicinal materials (such as musk), most of the drugs used in acupoint application are low-priced common Chinese medicinal materials, and some even come from daily necessities, such as onions, ginger, garlic and peppers. Moreover, the dosage of this method is very small, which can not only reduce the economic burden of patients, but also save a lot of medicinal materials.
(5) The curative effect is definite, non-invasive and painless.
Sticking therapy combines the advantages of acupuncture and drug therapy, and the prescription composition mostly comes from clinical experience. After a long period of years and historical verification, it has obvious curative effect, no trauma and no pain, and is especially suitable for those who are afraid of needles, the old and the weak, and those who refuse to take medicine.