Did you know that Moxa can turn a baby upside down?

The first modern scientific publication on moxibustion was written by the Japanese physician Hara Shimetarō who conducted intensive research about the hematological effects of moxibustion in 1927. Two years later his doctoral dissertation on that matter was accepted by the Medical Faculty of the Kyushu Imperial University.

Traditional Japanese Moxa (Wikimedia)

Randomized controlled trials have found that moxibustion combined with external versioning (placing hands on the mother's abdominals to slowly move the baby upside down) may be effective at changing breech presentation of babies. This mechanism proposes that moxibustion causes the release of placental estrogen and prostaglandins which lead to uterine contractions that change the baby's position.