Your Digestive Health
95 million Americans suffer from various digestive disorders. These range from constipation, diarrhea and irritable bowl syndrome to other serious complicated conditions such as acid reflux or GERD, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.
In fact, over 35 million physician office visits a year are due to gastro-intestinal complaints. With the side-effects that often accompany western medicine and sometimes less-than-desirable results, many patients are turning to acupuncture for help. Reports are confirming that acupuncture and Chinese medicine can offer relief from even the most complex digestive problems.
Chinese Medicine and Diagnosis of Digestive Disorders
Chinese Medicine has been used for digestive disorders as early as 3 AD, where early medical literature suggested specific acupuncture points and herbal formulas for complaints such as rumbing and gurgling in the intestines, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
In Chinese Medical theory, these digestive disorders are primarily attributed to a disharmony in the spleen and stomach. The spleen takes the active role in the transportation and transformation of nutrients and in this way it helps to maintain physical strength. The spleen turns the nutrients you have eaten into usable building blocks and Qi.
The spleen is attributed to the Center of the body, and many schools of Chinese Medicine attribute a healthy spleen to a healthy and well functioning body. By taking into account a persons’ constitution and varied symptoms, a treatment plan is designed specifically for the individual to bring their “middle” back into harmony and optimize the proper functioning of the digestive system. A variety of techniques can be used during treatment including acupuncture, herbal medicine, bodywork, lifestyle/dietary recommendations and energetic exercises to restore digestive health.
If you suffer from a digestive disorder, give me a call. I will be able to give you more information about treatment options to get you healthy and symptom free!
Zusanli – “Three Leg Mile”
The old story goes that monks who were walking up to the meditation spots on the mountain would stop often to massage this acupuncture point and it would allow them to walk “Three more miles”.
The acupuncture point, Zusanli, also known as Stomach 36 (St 36), is one of the most frequently used of all acupuncture points and is certainly the most intensively studied. The indications for use of this acupuncture point are many, and the claimed benefits are substantial.
Zusanli is a very powerful point for digestive health. This acupuncture point adjusts the qi and blood throughout the body and strengthens the spleen and stomach. It is one of the major supplementation points on the body and has the ability to treat a wide range of conditions.
Current research has found the Zusanli can both increase and decrease movement in the stomach, raise and lower blood pressure and increase or decrease the white blood cell count depending upon whether there are too few or too many white blood cells. Because of its ability to balance and regulate, it is generally considered to be a point that has a beneficial effect on the whole body.
Massaging Zusanli is often an important exercise in Qi Gong and martial arts practices. Regular application of moxibustion (a therapy which involves the burning of specific herbs at acupuncture points) to Zusanli is considered to be a method for gaining longevity. There is an ancient Chinese saying: “Moxa Zusanli and live to be a hundred.”
Stomach 36 is located four finger breadths below the kneecap, one finger breadth outside of the shinbone, in the groove. The point is usually tender.
I hope you have enjoyed this journey into stomach disorders. Please drop me an email or give me a call and say hi if you haven’t had an appointment in a while, we have a lot to catch up on!
Tags: Digestion