The Most Common Digestive Issues Acupuncture Helps To Treats
By Dr. Matthew Fellner, DACM, L.Ac.
Digestive issues have become one of the most common reasons people seek out acupuncture and in my 20 years in practice, there has been a dramatic increase in patients I treat for a variety of gastro-intestinal disorders. It’s true, there is evidence to suggest that the number of people suffering from digestive issues is rising, and up to 10-15% of the US population may be suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), according to American College of Gastroenterology. Countless others are diagnosed every year with Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, and Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD).
These diagnoses are almost always based on symptoms that can be clearly identified as occurring in the gut or digestive tract. Unfortunately, there are thousands, if not millions, of people who suffer from digestive issues that go undiagnosed, or improperly diagnosed, because their symptoms are not related to the stomach or intestines at all. Digestion is the foundation of all metabolic processes in the body, and it is very common to see symptoms show up in various parts of the body, without necessarily having gas, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, etc.
Three of the most common are:
Headaches
Immune issues
Joint pain
In a developing fetus, the cells that will eventually make up the central nervous system and the nerves of your GI tract form around the same time. Afterwards, the brain and the GI tract remain linked through various biological pathways, including:
Nerve signaling
Endocrine (hormone) signaling
Immune system activity
You may see this referred to as the gut-brain axis, which you can read more about here. Achieving a greater understanding of how the gut-brain axis works and the ways in which it can impact our health is an area of ongoing research. But what is understood is that anything that causes a hypersensitivity in the gut can easily trigger a hypersensitive response through the nervous system. This often leads to headaches, but it can also lead to muscle and joint pain. This disharmony between the gut-brain axis is known as Dysbiosis.
This gut-brain harmony is also crucial to the proper functioning of the immune system. Approximately 70% of the immune function is related to the health of the gut biome. Immune cells and gut microbes constantly communicate to influence body function. Changes in microbiome composition impact immune function, and specific dysbiotic patterns can promote pro-inflammatory immune responses. This may lead to getting sick more often, being sick for longer, having a slower recovery, or even developing over-reactive auto-immune responses that attack your own body.
When I see a patient, I ask a lot of questions about their diet and the state of digestion. With this information, I can start to create a picture of a person’s overall health and see how any illness or disease manifests. Many doctors focus too much on where the symptoms are occurring, without seeing the bigger picture of what the root cause is. Often it comes back to the health of the gut. Many of the treatments in acupuncture and herbs will use this as a starting point to create a baseline for treating conditions that are not always obviously related to digestion.
Here’s how acupuncture and TCM help treat symptoms of digestion issues:
Calm the nervous system to ease nervousness which can cause digestive issues
Manage mental & emotional stress which can cause physical manifestations such as IBS, ulcers, acid reflux, bloating, and irregular bowel movements.
Balance gut health
Enhance blood flow to internal organs
Encourage release of digestive enzymes aids to help digest food