Stir up a fire and burn oneself:the secret of fire therapy

Editor Group of TMR

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On December 25,2018,Ding Xiang Yuan Weixin Public Platform,a well-known medical academic exchange platform in China,published an article"The Ten-Billion Health Care Empire Quan Jian and the Chinese Families in its Shadow".The article questioned whether Quan Jian Company's fire therapy has any therapeutic effect and cited several cases of death caused by fire therapy of Quan Jian Company.Quan Jian subsequently issued an official statement,stating that the article published by"Dingxiang Doctor",was false information and initiated a lawsuit against the company affiliated with Ding Xiang Yuan,which has now entered the judicial process.

The"Fire Therapy"mentioned in this article is a patented project of Quan Jian.However,fire is widely used in external treatment methods within traditional Chinese medicine,such as moxibustion,fire needle,vacuum cupping,etc,which are proven clinically effective.For example,a clinical investigation into 120 cases found Thunder-Fire moxibustion with ovulation monitoring significantly improved the pregnancy rate of patients diagnosed with adenomyosis-associated infertility[1].The study by Xu JC,et al.showed fire need can repair the spinal cord injury via promoting neural stem cells differentiate into neurons[2].

Cupping therapy was recorded as"Jiaofa"in theWu Shi Er Bing Fangpublished in the Xi Han Dynasty of China(202 B.C.-8 A.D.).Cupping therapy uses fire to form vacuum pressure.Once the cupping contacts the skin the fire extinguishes,thus it will not cause skin burns and scalds.However,QuanJian's fire therapy is to pour some alcohol on a wet towel,which is then lain directly onto the skin.The theoretical basis of this treatment is to release pathogenic heat by burning,but the risk factor of this method is very high and its clinical efficacy has not been confirmed by rigorous scientific research.In this latest issue of TMR cupping Therapy we focus on the efficacy of cupping therapy and provide scientific guidance for its clinical application.

In recent years,there have been many attempted innovations in non-drug manual manipulation treatment of traditional Chinese medicine.For example,a diabetic patient died in the UK after receiving a modified version of Paida-Lajin treatment,which was taken and then altered from traditional Chinese massage[3].Dry needling,derived from clinical injection process,has also aroused widespread controversy[4,5].Therefore,standardized operation technology,definite curative effect,indications,adverse reactions,and mechanism base on scientific research is imperative for the healthy development of traditional medicine.

1.Wang H,Chen Y,Yin Y,et al.Evaluating the clinical efficacy of Thunder-Fire moxibustion combined with ovulation monitoring in the treatment of adenomyosis combined with infertility.Traditional Medicine Research,2018,3:243-250.

2.Xu JC,Zhao ZH,Cheng SL,et al.Fireneedle up-regulates the expression of ERK1/2 in neural stem cells.Tradit Med Res 2017,2:149-154.

3.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/13/three-people-arrested-after-diabetic-grandmother-dies-following/

4.Liu L,Huang QM,Liu QG,et al.Evidence for dry needling in the management of myofascial trigger points associated with low back pain:a systematic review and meta-analysis.Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2018,99:144-152.

5.McDowell JM,Kohut SH,Betts D.Safe acupuncture and dry needling during pregnancy:New Zealand physiotherapists'opinion and practice.J Integr Med 2018[Epub ahead of print].