Chinese Medicine For Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Acupuncture can also be a useful treatment for IBD, as it has a regulating and balancing effect, and can help to calm the symptoms of the disease.

For instance, American authors (in Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2018 Dec 11.) have reviewed the mechanisms of action of acupuncture that benefit patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). They explain that acupuncture has been shown to decrease disease activity and inflammation in IBD by affecting vagal control of the immune response, and via non-immune effects that can positively modulate the gut microbiota and improve gut barrier function.

They discuss the beneficial roles demonstrated by acupuncture in the regulation of gut dysbiosis, intestinal barrier function, visceral hypersensitivity, gut motor dysfunction, depression, anxiety and pain, all of which are factors that can significantly impact quality of life in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

In my Bristol Chinese Medicine Practice I often use both acupuncture and herbal medicine together for the best and quickest  effect, and find that the 2 treatments complement each other very well.