Researchers conclude that acupuncture combined with ginger moxibustion has a curative effect on patients with intractable tinnitus. Patients with intractable tinnitus are primarily the elderly or middle-aged people who hear ringing in the ears, especially in the evening or in a quiet environment. Medications often do not work well for this condition. Researchers from a hospital in Hubei province treated 34 cases of intractable tinnitus using acupuncture and ginger moxibustion. They achieved an overall effective rate of 91.18%.
Deficiency syndromes also cause to tinnitus. Deficiency syndromes are mostly caused by a weak constitution due to chronic disease, deficiency of qi and blood, excessive work or excess sexuality that results in insufficient Kidney essence that is unable to nourish the ears. Therefore, acupuncture is usually applied to acupoints on the Hand and Foot Shaoyang channels circling ears. The blocking of channels is often severe for patients with intractable tinnitus and ginger, which warms and unblocks channels and tracts, can improve circulation in the ears especially when combined with moxibustion.
The researchers treated 34 patients whose courses of illness ranged from 4 months to 11 years.
Ginger moxibustion was applied simultaneously with acupuncture. Large pieces of ginger were sliced into 1cm thick cubes, each had a small needle-punctured hole in the center. Then, the researchers made pagoda shaped moxa bars using dried moxa, put them on the ginger pieces, ignited them, placed them on the outer auricle and moved the positions of the ginger pieces until the moxa burnt out. Two moxa bars were used for every treatment. One treatment was administered per day for a period of 10 days.
A total of 34 patients were treated in this study. After the treatment averaging 17 days, 22 patients (64.17%) fully recovered, 5 patients (14.71%) showed marked improvements, 4 patients (11.76%) showed moderate improvements and 3 patients (8.82%) showed no improvements. The overall effective rate was 91.18%. Within 4 months following the treatment, 27 patients in this study experienced no worsening of symptoms or recurrence. Based on the outcomes, the researchers concluded that acupuncture and ginger moxibustion have a significant curative effect on patients with intractable tinnitus. The researchers note that widespread adoption of this clinical treatment protocol is warranted based on the positive patient outcomes.
