11 Research status and development trends in navel therapy

Abstract

Objectives This article summarizes the modern development of navel therapy, analyses future trends and puts forward suggestions for future development. Methods This paper provides a history of the development of navel therapy, describes the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and reports the clinical application of umbilical therapy in detail. Results The author describes some problems in modern navel therapy development, for instance there is no unified national standard and proprietary Chinese medicine products are not listed or promoted. Conclusions Navel therapy is a unique TCM treatment. Doctors apply the particular drug externally to the navel or to the appropriate external stimulus on the navel in order to treat disease. This method is also called ‘green therapy’. In future research, we will apply modern science and technology to explore the mechanisms of navel therapy, establish an optimization scheme for navel therapy and develop a unified national standard to promote this traditional Chinese treatment worldwide. Acknowledgments This research was financially supported by the Henan Province Outstanding Scientific and Technological Innovation Team (Grant No. TCJ2014-391), Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (Grant No. 132300410019) and Zhengzhou Science and Technology Innovation Team (Grant No. 131PCXTD612).