Acupuncture has been considered an effective method for treating gastrointestinal function diseases for thousands of years. In fact, acupuncture has gained progressive acceptance from both practitioners and patients worldwide.
Research has shown that Acupuncture may help in the treatment of Gastrointestinal tract disorders, by:
- inhibiting gastric and duodenal motility by activating sympathetic nerves via spinal reflexes, and increasing motility via the vagus nerve and supraspinal reflexes (Chang 2001; Takahashi 2006; Sehn 2006; Yao 2006; Noguchi 2008);
- altering acid secretion, and visceral pain (Takahashi 2006)
Acupuncture Regulates Gastrointestinal Function
- improving delayed gastric emptying (Xu 2006)
- reducing inflammation, by promoting release of vascular and immunomodulatory factors (Zijlstra 2003)
- stimulating areas in the brain that are involved in gastric perception (Zeng 2009)
- inhibiting stress-induced pro-opiomelanocortin expression in the hypothalamus (Sun 2008
- decreasing permeability of intestinal mucosa in patients with acute pancreatitis, and reducing accumulation of endogenous inflammatory mediators and vascular active substance in intestinal mucosa (Wang 2007).
References
- Tillisch K. Complementary and alternative medicine for functional gastrointestinal disorders. Gut. 2006 May;55(5):593-6.
- Shen YH, Nahas R. Complementary and alternative medicine for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. Can Fam Physician. 2009 Feb;55(2):143-8.
- Li H, He T, Xu Q, Li Z, Liu Y, Li F, Yang BF, Liu CZ. Acupuncture and regulation of gastrointestinal function. World J Gastroenterol. 2015 Jul 21;21(27):8304-13.
- Takahashi T. Acupuncture for functional gastrointestinal disorders. J Gastroenterol. 2006 May;41(5):408-17.