Acupuncture for gastrointestinal diseases

Abstract

Acupuncture, an important component of traditional Chinese medicine, has gained growing attention around the world in the past decades. Both manual and electroacupuncture are commonly used in clinical practice, especially by patients with gastrointestinal disorders seeking symptoms control due to disease signs recurrence and/or lack of effective treatments. Currently, patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders, constipation, gastroesophageal reflux disease, inflammatory bowel disease, ileus, acute pancreatitis, and gastroparesis may benefit from acupuncture treatment, as clinically evident, and the most frequently used acupoints are chosen from the large intestine, stomach, bladder, and spleen meridian. The underlying mechanisms of acupuncture involve the neuromodulation, adjustment of gastrointestinal motility and visceral hypersensitivity, anti‐inflammation, repairment of gut microbiota, and intestinal barrier. As methodology advanced, cumulative number of well‐designed clinical trials has been established, which might help elevating clinicians and gastroenterologists' awareness and perception toward application of acupuncture for gastrointestinal diseases management.

Effects of acupuncture on gastrointestinal diseases and its underlying mechanism: a literature review of animal studies

“…Acupuncture, a complementary and alternative therapy (58), has been used to treat various diseases (59). Its use for GI conditions has been demonstrated in previous studies (60). Clinical trials on acupuncture management for GI diseases have been established (61).…”

Nutritional therapy for gastroparesis

“…In addition, herb-partitioned moxibustion at fanwei point relieves the clinical symptoms in the patients with diabetic gastroparesis and increases the gastric emptying rate, which is probably related to the regulation of the levels of plasma motilin and serum gastrin. [27] 8. Psychological comforting As patients with gastroparesis have obvious nausea and vomiting, and sometimes intractable hiccups, they need long-term fasting and intravenous infusions.…”

“…In addition, herb-partitioned moxibustion at fanwei point relieves the clinical symptoms in the patients with diabetic gastroparesis and increases the gastric emptying rate, which is probably related to the regulation of the levels of plasma motilin and serum gastrin. [27]…”

Traditional Chinese medicine in human diseases treatment: New insights of their potential mechanisms

“…Interestingly, even for the same disease, different acupuncturists will choose different combinations of acupoints to perform acupuncture for patients, which involves complex knowledge of acupoints and meridians (Zhang & Li, 2021). In this issue, Gao et al (2023) and Li, Liu, et al (2023) reviewed the clinical studies of acupuncture and their potential mechanisms in the treatment of brain and gastrointestinal diseases, respectively. At present, the main problems associated with the clinical trials of acupuncture are related to study design, such as sample size, group setting, intervention modalities, and acupoint selection (Zhang & Li, 2021).…”