CHEN Rixin’s clinical experience in heat-sensitive moxibustion for pediatric diseases

The paper summarizes Professor CHEN Rixin’s clinical experience in heat-sensitive moxibustion for pediatric diseases. Four key points should be greatly considered during delivery of heat-sensitive moxibustion when treating pediatric diseases: (1) Deqi is manifested as getting tranquilized. Different from adults, in children, deqi after heat-sensitive moxibustion is manifested as cooperating, calming-down, sleeping, preferring to warm, acral heat feeling, whole-body warming feeling, facial flushing, sweating on the forehead (slightly sweating in the body), and diffusive cutaneous flushing. (2) Moving moxibustion is dominant to obtain the balance between the dynamic and the static. The main techniques include to-and-fro moxibustion along meridian, sparrow-pecking moxibustion and gentle moxibustion, which can effectively promote deqi. (3) Moxibustion dosage is determined by slight sweating. Different from adults, the individual saturation moxibustion time in children depends on the occurrence of acral heat feeling and slightly sweating. (4) Ensuring safety in the operation. Safety is essential in pediatric heat-sensitive moxibustion, and the special pediatric moxibustion tools equipped with heat-collecting covers and ash-separating nets should be used, which is apt to obtain deqi in children. Heat-sensitive moxibustion works on warming and nourishing the lung and spleen, which is effective on chronic cough after common cold, common cold due to constitutional deficiency, allergic rhinitis, loose stool, constipation and indigestion.