Tis the Season...for Moxa!

It's starting to get cold out there, and I've already seen a number of patients who required moxa. I love moxa, and use it often, but recently I've noticed an uptick in the number of patients requiring it. The several people I used it on all had diminished pulses in the Kidney Yang position, and all had pain conditions that were worse with cold. As stated in the Huang Di Nei Jing, "What is cold, heat it." Naturally, this makes the small treatment areas at St. Ann's more smoky than a bar that has an OTB hook up, but it's all in a good cause.
Most recent was a patient who suffered from elbow pain. His elbow had swollen before, and I had treated it without moxa, but now, although the swelling was gone, there was pain. He had no pain elsewhere in his joints. He's a kind of large guy, but somewhat tubby and not very physically fit. His pulses were somewhat soft, and a bit empty, but his Kidney Yang pulse was deep and somewhat feeble, in comparison to his Kidney Yin pulse which was was soft and not nearly so deep. Interestingly, his tongue had no coat, and was slightly moist. He reported frequent, clear urination, but mentioned that he drank lots of water.
Diagnosis was Kidney/Spleen Yang deficiency with failure to move fluids, which is why his tongue was coatless yet moist. Treatment involved lots of moxa, with the use of stick on moxa at SJ 10 on his left arm (the affected elbow), and pole moxa on Ren 9 Shuefen, and Ren 6 Qihai. Other points included, with needles, Spleen 9 Yinlingquan, SJ 3 Zhongzhu on his right arm, GB 34 Yanglingquan on the contra lateral side, and GB 41 Zulinqi and St. 36 Zusanli bilaterally. SJ 14 Jianliao and SJ 4 Yangchi were also used on the affected arm.
The patient was almost, but not quite pain free after treatment, with a lot more mobility in the affected joint. I'm waiting for him to come next week to see how his elbow is after.