灸法的历史与现状

History and current state of moxibustion

灸法是我国古代劳动人民在长期与疾病作斗争的过程中创造的一种疗法 ,是中医学中最古老的疗法之一。灸法的起源不会晚于原始社会 ,有关的文献记载则可追溯到春秋战国时期。经过历代医家的努力 ,灸法得到了长足的发展 ,出现了大量专著 ,并将灸法广泛用于治疗各类疾病。自 2 0世纪 5 0年代起 ,灸法防治疾病的范围进一步扩大 ,临床观察不断趋向深入 ,灸治方法日益丰富 ,并系统开展了机制研究 ,均取得了重大进展。灸法传入西方后 ,曾在 18世纪一度风行 ,施灸者还创制了多种灸治之法。但对灸法研究卓有成效的是日本 ,特别是在近现代 ,从灸治扩展到防病、保健 ,并重视灸法的实验研究。

Moxibustion is an important invention of the Chinese nation, which originated as early as in the clan commune period of the primitive society. The literature records on moxibustion can be traced back to the Warring States Period (475 B.C. to 221 B.C.). Doctors through the ages made considerable progress and published a great number of books on moxibustion. Moxibustion has been applied in treating a great range of diseases. Since the 1950s, the treatment scope of moxibustion has been expanded, and the therapeutic methods of moxibustion are becoming increasingly rich and varied, and great progress in research on the mechanism of moxibustion has been made. Moxibustion was once popular in Europe after its dissemination to the West in the seventeenth century, and the practitioners invented some new methods of moxibustion. Japan is the country in the West where fruitful efforts have been made in research on moxibustion. In modern times, moxibustion has been used for health protection, and the scientists are paying great attention to the experimental research on moxibustion.