Instructive significance of "treatment in accordance with time factor" for the idea of clinical diagnosis and treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion

Abstract

"Treatment in accordance with time factor" is one of the key principles of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. In clinical practice of acupuncture and moxibustion, the connotation of "timing/time factor" should be fully understood and the temporal rule on physiology and pathology affected by the changes of four seasons and day and night be grasped. Based on the change law of qi, blood, yin and yang and the rise and fall rules of pathogens and antipathogenic qi, the intervention is exerted timely. The dynamic law of acupoints should be associated with the changes in pathogenesis and illness location, thus, the acupoint selection, needle manipulation and needle withdrawal can be operated precisely. The idea of time factor should be considered in the whole process of clinical diagnosis and treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion so as to provide some guidance for clinical analysis and practice.