Asthma Relief with Acupressure

This is the web page that will focus on Asthma. This page will include background, research, articles, how to start using the points, blogs, facebook, twitter connections and all other networking information. This page will be open only to people who are part of the acupressure study program and are allowing us to assist them to get the best personal results possible and to track their progress.

The link to the points for relief of Asthma are found below. In general you should include the points for Asthma along with the specific points for the part of the body or type of Asthma that you are working with.

Asthma

Asthma Bronchial   

Asthma points on ear

Acupuncture & Asthma

Acupuncture has traditionally been successfully employed in China to treat most illnesses and research in the past decade has shown that acupuncture can be very effective for respiratory diseases including asthma. There are many studies relating to the success of acupuncture treatment for asthma which have been reported in the medical journals (1) . In 1979 the World health Organisation listed 40 diseases for which acupuncture was considered to be beneficial and diseases of the respiratory tract including asthma and bronchitis were included in that list (2). 

Dr Mike Whiteside in one report stated that: "This (Acupuncture) is excellent for a mild attack and remarkably well accepted even by children." (3) This view is certainly supported through the international medical literature and the published controlled studies.

In a study conducted at the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in the University Hospital of Vienna revealed that over 70% of patients with long-standing asthma reported a significant improvement of their ailments after ten weeks of acupuncture treatment. (4) 

Please remember that traditional acupuncturists treat the whole person rather than a disease and therefore attempt to get to the root cause of the problem rather than treating the symptoms and, like other holistic practitioners, will consider all lifestyle and environmental factors before commencing treatment.

(1). Aldridge d & Pietroni P (1987) Clinical assessment of Acupuncture in Asthma Therapy: a discussion paper. Journal of the Royal Soc of Med, 80, 222-4.
Jobst KA et al, (1986) Controlled trial of acupuncture for disabling breathlessness. Lancet 2, 1416-9.Fung KP et al (1986) Attenuation of exercise induced asthma by acupuncture Lancet 2, 1419-22.
(2) reported by Dr S Fulder MD in The Handbook of Complementary Medicine (Coronet). 
(3) reported In here's health Feb 1993 p.81.
(4) Beneficial effect of acupuncture on adult patients with asthma bronchiale.
Zwolfer W; Keznickl-Hillebrand W; Spacek A; Cartellieri M; Grubhofer G
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, University of Vienna, Austria.
Am J Chin Med (UNITED STATES) 1993, 21 (2) p113-7

Scientists at the Department of Acupuncture, Second Municipal People's Hospital, Kaifeng City, Henan Province studied 192 patients suffering from bronchial asthma , all of whom were treated by acupuncture on Kongzui (Lu 6) and Yuji (Lu 10). The results revealed that there was an immediate total effective rate of 98.9%, and interestingly, the rate of clinical remission dropped and there was a marked improvement in 76.5% of the patients.

The efficacy of the treatment did not differ significantly in patients of varying ages and even the duration of the disease was not found to be significant. The effects for asthma patients of the cold type according to Traditional Chinese Medicine classification and of the allergic type according to western medicine were the most impressive, and the researchers also found that the long-term curative rate was linked to (a) the length of time of needle retention and (b) the speed with which a patient responded to treatment. (ie. those patients who received the most needling and those who responded fastest to the treatment experienced a better long-term curative rate.)

The study also found that 40 minutes of needle retention after the treatment took effect was the most desirable. Acupuncture treatment of bronchial asthma was considered very effective, and particularly useful for those patients who have a history of drug allergy.

Zang J Immediate anti-asthmatic effect of acupuncture in 192 cases of bronchial asthma. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CHINA) Jun 1990, 10 (2) p89-93

The clinical observation revealed that the asthmatic symptoms in most of the patients began to be improved after several acupuncture treatments with the dosage of the drug gradually reduced.

Generally, the dose of cortisone per oz was decreased by 2 mg every 10 days, while that of aerosol was controlled by the patients themselves according to the condition of the disease.

The symptoms in most of the patients were markedly improved after 15 treatments, but the treatment should be continued for another 10 times to consolidate the curative effect. Thus, each asthmatic patient needs to receive approximately 30 sessions of acupuncture treatment, lasting about 3 months. Thereafter, in order to prevent its relapse, the treatment should be administered 10 times each year in the summer season. It is worthy to be mentioned that, in this series, there was a female patient who suffered from anaphylactic asthma induced by dog's hair. She received 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment with no improvement. In this case, the acupuncture treatment should not be given any longer. There were another two children patients aged 5 and 7 years respectively, for them the above method of acupuncture treatment was difficult to be used. Therefore, the auricular pressing method combined with cupping was adopted instead. The auricular points selected were Shenmen, Lung, Large Intestine, sensitive point, Pingchuan, Subcortex, and Kidney. 5 points were used each time, and pressed with the seeds of Vaccaria which were changed every 3 days. The patients were asked to press each of the points themselves 3 times a day (each time by 20 pressings). And Dazhui (Du 14), Feishu (UB 13), Pishu (UB 20) and Shenshu (UB 23) were cupped for 5 min. each time. The auricular pressing and cupping therapies may also be added for adult patients to strengthen the curative effect. The 25 cases of hormone dependent bronchial asthma were treated by acupuncture, yielding a markedly effective rate of 56% with a total effective rate of 96%, indicating that good therapeutic results can also be expected in the western countries for those cases who have already been treated with hormones.

J Tradit Chin Med 1998 Mar;18(1):27-30, Hu J, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing

Reflexology & Asthma

Recent research has revealed that asthmatic children have benefited from reflexology treatment. (1) Reflexology is certainly an appropriate non-invasive therapy to help this condition and there are many reports from therapists of asthmatic patients being helped through reflexology. This may be because reflexology helps 'balance' organs and tissues throughout the body and, acting through the nervous system, it can actually help strengthen and normalise the circulatory and respiratory system. In this way, it can help activate the body's own healing force to strengthen lung and bronchial tissue.

(1) [Foot zone therapy and bronchial asthma--a controlled clinical trial]
Fodzoneterapi og asthma bronchiale--en klinisk kontrolleret undersogelse.
Petersen LN; Faurschou P; Olsen OT; Svendsen UG
Lungemedicinsk/allergologisk afdeling Y, Kobenhavns Amts Sygehus i Gentofte. Ugeskr Laeger Jul 20 1992, 154 (30) p2065-8 

Acupuncture & Bronchial Asthma
The clinical observation revealed that the asthmatic symptoms in most of the patients began to be improved after several acupuncture treatments with the dosage of the drug gradually reduced. Generally, the dose of cortisone per os was decreased by 2 mg every 10 days, while that of aerosol was controlled by the patients themselves according to the condition of the disease.

The symptoms in most of the patients were markedly improved after 15 treatments, but the treatment should be continued for another 10 times to consolidate the curative effect. Thus, each asthmatic patient needs to receive approximately 30 sessions of acupuncture treatment, lasting about 3 months. Thereafter, in order to prevent its relapse, the treatment should be administered 10 times each year in the summer season. It is worthy to be mentioned that, in this series, there was a female patient who suffered from anaphylactic asthma induced by dog's hair. She received 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment with no any improvement. In this case, the acupuncture treatment should not be given any longer. There were another two children patients aged 5 and 7 years respectively, for them the above method of acupuncture treatment was difficult to be used. Therefore, the auricular pressing method combined with cupping was adopted instead. The auricular points selected were Shenmen, Lung, Large Intestine, sensitive point, Pingchuan, Subcortex, and Kidney. 5 points were used each time, and pressed with the seeds of Vaccaria which were changed every 3 days. The patients were asked to press each of the points themselves 3 times a day (each time by 20 pressings). And Dazhui (Du 14), Feishu (UB 13), Pishu (UB 20) and Shenshu (UB 23) were cupped for 5 min. each time.

The auricular pressing and cupping therapies may also be added for adult patients to strengthen the curative effect. The 25 cases of hormone dependent bronchial asthma were treated by acupuncture, yielding a markedly effective rate of 56% with a total effective rate of 96%, indicating that good therapeutic results can also be expected in the western countries for those cases who have already been treated with hormones.

J Tradit Chin Med 1998 Mar;18(1):27-30 Hu J Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing.

Home / disclaimer / symptoms / order / products / books / best sellers / history / research / how to do acupressure /  contact us