Acupoints for Moxibustion: A Safety-First Reference

This reference explains how to read an acupoint page without turning a point name into a diagnosis or a home treatment order. A point label belongs to a traditional framework. It does not, by itself, identify the cause of a symptom or prove that heat should be applied.

What should every acupoint page explain?

Each page should identify the point, its location in plain language, the traditional context, the limits of modern evidence, and the safety questions that change the decision. It should also say when the reader should stop researching a point and seek clinical assessment.

How should a reader use a point reference?

Use it to understand terminology and prepare better questions. Do not use a symptom list to self-diagnose. Do not copy a point combination from one condition to another. Do not apply heat where sensation, skin integrity, pregnancy, or another medical circumstance makes the risk unclear.

Which safety questions come first?

Ask whether the method is direct or indirect, how heat will be controlled, how skin will be monitored, how smoke will be managed, and what the stop signs are. The safety owner page covers those risks. A specific point page should link to the safety owner when the reader’s question changes from location to treatment or risk.

What this reference does not provide

It does not replace diagnosis, prescribe a protocol, or guarantee an outcome. Specific point pages should remain narrow and should not repeat the full safety article. For pregnancy-related point questions, use the separate pregnancy safety discussion rather than treating a point label as permission.

Sources

• NCCIH safety information
• Adverse events of moxibustion