The mission and responsibility of acupuncture and moxibustion in aerospace medicine
Guo Yi
Yu Yi
Abstract：With the completion of China's space station and the normalization of long-duration orbital missions,mitigating the multi-system physiological and pathological changes induced by the space environment has emerged as a central challenge in space medicine.Acupuncture and moxibustion,as a treasure of traditional medicine,has an important mission in the aerospace health protection system by virtue of its overall regulation,homeostatic quality regulation and non-pharmacological intervention advantages.Before flight,acupuncture point stimulation can enhance the physiological reserve capacity and regulation ability of astronauts,laying the foundation for coping with the challenges of extreme environments;during the on-orbit phase,transcutanclus electrical acupoint stimulation can prevent and control multiple system disorders,such as space motion sickness,weightlessness muscular atrophy,and bone loss,and maintain the internal homeostasis of the organism;after the return,acupuncture can effectively promote the reconstruction of the organism's function and rehabilitation.Consequently,this paper advocates for the integration of acupuncture and moxibustion throughout the entire cycle of astronaut health management—encompassing"preventing disease before onset,preventing progression of existing conditions,and preventing relapse after recovery"—to leverage its strategic role in health protection for future deep-space exploration missions.
Keywords：acupuncture and moxibustionspace medicinepreventing disease before onsetpreventing progression of existing conditionspreventing relapse after recovery
Publication Date：2025-08-25
Online Publishing Date：2025-09-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：3( 297-299 )