Mechanisms and Evidence-Based Advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wax Therapy in Chronic Disease Treatment

Abstract

Objective: To systematically elaborate the core mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) wax therapy in treating chronic diseases and provide evidence-based support for its standardized clinical application. Methods: Databases including CNKI, PubMed, and Web of Science (2010-2024) were searched to include clinical studies, basic experiments, and review articles on TCM wax therapy for chronic diseases (inclusion criteria: randomized controlled trials with Jadad score ≥3, cohort studies with sample size ≥50). Integrative analysis was conducted from four dimensions: theoretical basis, core mechanisms, disease-specific effects, and evidence-based efficacy. Results: TCM wax therapy exerts synergistic effects through “thermotherapy-herbal syndrome differentiation-transdermal delivery,” significantly improving the local pathological microenvironment of chronic diseases: increasing blood flow velocity by 30%-50%, improving blood oxygen saturation by 15%-20%, inhibiting the release of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) by 42% and 38% respectively, and enhancing fibroblast activity by 35%. The total effective rate for chronic locomotor system injuries reached 92.3% (95%CI: 88.6%-95.1%), with an adverse reaction rate of only 2.1% (far lower than 15.6% in the oral Western medicine group). Conclusion: TCM wax therapy regulates local circulation, inflammation, and repair processes through multiple targets, demonstrating advantages of safety, efficacy, and convenience in chronic disease treatment. Its mechanism is closely related to “local microenvironment remodeling,” and further research on molecular mechanisms and technical standardization is needed.