The clinical application development of paraffin therapy

Paraffin therapy is using heating paraffin to treat diseases. Paraffin therapy, a favorable conductive heat therapy with good plasticity, viscosity and ductility, could have close contact with skin, stretch optionally, transform and cling to body surface. Paraffin therapy could preserve heat for a long time and release a large amount of energy when cooling, providing a higher temperature and lasting thermal effect on tissue. Paraffin therapy stimulates dermal telangiectasia, increases the rate of blood flow, improves the circulation of blood and lymph, and increases secretion of sweat gland in treatment region. On the one hand, paraffin therapy can promote the circulation, stimulate dermal telangiectasia, increase the rate of blood flow, improve the circulation of blood and lymph, and increase secretion of sweat gland. On the other hand, paraffin therapy could reduce tissue edema, eliminate pain mediators, and achieve the purpose of relieving swelling and pain by inflammatory infiltration. In the course of cooling, the volume of paraffin wax gradually decreased. Paraffin wax contacted with skin closely during the whole treatment process. Mechanical squeezing action can promote the transmission of heat and temperature to deep tissues, prevent exudation of lymph and blood in diseased tissue, and promote absorption of exudate. Its treatment effects include warming, mechanical interaction, lubrication and so on. The therapy techniques include wax cake and wax brush method. Paraffin therapy is noninvasive, painless, showing less side effects and obvious curative effects. It is simple and practicable that is widely used in treatment of neck-shoulder and lumbocrural pain, vertebral artery type cervical spondylopathy, rehabilitation of nervous function, muscles and soft tissue damage, limb function rehabilitation, digestive system disease, gynecological disease, dermatosis and other fields. This paper summarized these clinical efficacy, explored the indications for using paraffin therapy, reduced the pain of patients, and improved their life quality, thus to provide thoughts and methods for further clinical research of paraffin therapy.