Acupuncture, in combination with Chinese Herbs, have been applied to help with different types of respiratory system diseases, including but not limited to the following.

Influenza

Influenza refers to acute infection of respiratory tract caused by influenza virus. Clinically it is marked by sudden onset, evident general poisoning symptoms, and appearance of fever, headache, general aching, and lassitude, as well as mild symptoms of the respiratory tract. This disease is similar to “seasonal cold” in Chinese Medicine. Exogenous contraction of seasonal pathogenic factors is the main cause of this disease. Owing to differences in season and constitution, this syndrome is manifested either as wind-cold or wind-heat with the complications of summer-heat and dampness. If it is caused by pathogenic wind, heat, summer-heat and dryness that make the disturbance of the striae, leading to scorching of the lung by pathogenic heat, lung qi will failed to purify and descent.

Acute and Chronic Bronchitis

Acute and chronic bronchitis refers to inflammation of trachea and bronchia caused by various factors. The main clinical symptoms are cough, expectoration and panting. Acute and chronic bronchitis pertains to the categories of “cough”, “cough-panting” and “phlegm and fluid retention” in Chinese Medicine. The causes of this disease are either exogenous or endogenous. Exogenous cause refers to attack by wind, cold, heat and dryness that lead failure of the lung-defense to diffuse, failure of body fluids to distribute, and obstruction of the airway by phlegm. Endogenous cause refers to dysfunction of the lung, spleen and kidney. Lung insufficiency results in failure of the lung qi to diffuse and descend; dysfunction of the spleen in transportation leads to accumulation of dampness transforming into phlegm which attacks the lung; kidney insufficiency brings about non-reception of qi and upward flow of qi; or invasion of liver fire into the lung leads to consumption of body fluid by lung heat. Acute bronchitis is usually an excess syndrome, while chronic bronchitis is usually a deficiency syndrome or syndrome with deficiency in root and excess in branch.

Bronchial Asthma

Bronchial asthma is a kind of episodic allergic disease of the bronchi. The clinical manifestations are episodic dyspnea that is mainly expiratory and accompanied by wheezing. The patients usually have histories of allergy and familial heredity. This disease corresponds to “wheezing-panting” and “panting-cough” in Chinese Medicine. It is usually caused by dysfunction of the lung, spleen and kidney due to exogenous pathogenic factors, improper diet and improper care after illness, leading to retention of endogenous phlegm in the lung. The latent phlegm is easy to be provoked by climatic changes, diet, emotional changes and overstrain, leading to ascent of the phlegm following qi so as to obstruct the airway and causes asthma. Recurrent asthma will result in insufficiency of the lung, spleen and kidney, or even involve the heart and bring about critical conditions of status asthmaticus.