For treating rhinitis, other than Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture, there is an option with topical treatment, namely Tianjiu.
Rhinitis and allergy is the hyper-active reaction to allergen and causing irritation to eye, nose, pharynx and larynx. Causes could be seasonal or perennial, including seasonal to pollen, or perennial to dust, hair and fungus.
Factors that trigger rhinitis includes pollution, food, drink, chemical and stress. Patients need to avoid factors which causing their allergy, and improve the immune system by adopting healthy life style, such as enough resting and exercise, eating fresh and nutritious food, avoid excessive fatigue.
TCM would make use of seasonal change of temperature to strengthen body constitution, and the treatment technique calls "TianJiu". Under the TCM theory, body qi would become strongest among the whole year, and they would use topical medicine in special day to promote skin circulation. It is believed that it can modify the immune function and treat rhinitis.
Date of of topical treatment is fixed among the year, and it is chosen on the dog day in the summer and winter.
2019 Summer TianJiu date:
1st day: 12-7-2019
2nd day: 22-7-2019
3rd day: 11-8-2019
2018/19 Winter TianJiu date:
1st day : 22-12-2019
2nd day: 31-12-2019
3rd day : 9-1-2020
Lo Man Kin, William
Mr. Lo received full time training in Physiotherapy and Traditional Chinese Medicine. After working in orthopaedic clinic, he gained lot of experience in treating different kinds of pain condition. He has great interest in integrated medicine and like to explore the ancient medical knowledge. He is now also serving as the committee member of one of the course in Hong Kong St John Association, write for the column and promote acupuncture in radio program.