Moxibustion is a technique in Traditional Chinese Medicine that involves the burning of an herb called mugwort to increase stimulation of an acupuncture point without the use of a needle. Traditionally Moxibustion has been an integral part of Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture as denoted in the Chinese term for acupuncture which consists of the characters “needle” and “fire” and can be translated to Acupuncture-Moxibustion.
The basis behind moxibustion is creating heat and therefore invigorating the circulation in the body. There are many uses for moxibustion including increase blood flow, strengthening the body’s constitution and also increasing fetal activity in breech births.
Among all the uses of moxibustion, one of the most researched among the Western Medical community is it’s use in correcting breech births. Here is a research study about using moxibustion in breech births published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA article.