Moxibustion in Australia: a clinical audit of moxibustion use in a University outpatient Chinese medicine clinic

Background: Moxibustion is a widely used adjunct therapy within Chinese medicine in many Asian countries, as well as Australia. A variety of diseases are treated with moxibustion as well as a range of application methods used, ranging from moxa roll to warm needle. Few studies have looked at the types of diseases and methods used when administering moxibustion. Method: The clinic database at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Chinese medicine clinic was mined for the type of disease using the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) as well as the most commonly used application methods when moxibustion was applied within a treatment. The period assessed was from January 1998 to December 2014. Results: The six most common disease areas where moxibustion had been administered were in the categories of neurological, digestive, respiratory, musculoskeletal, psychological and general diseases. In total 104,676 treatments had been recorded in the database across these six disease areas with moxibustion being used in 9.3% (n=9,733) of all the recorded treatments in these six disease areas. In addition, the moxa roll was most commonly used (6%) followed by direct moxa (1.3%), moxa box (1.2%) and warm needle (0.8%). Conclusion: More research is needed into the efficacy, safety and underlying mechanism of moxibustion therapy. This will lead to a better understanding of moxibustion and familiarisation by the public of its role in treating a variety of diseases.