Zap! How acupuncture can ease constipation
Stuart Bradford
Acupuncture to
the abdomen, boosted by an electric current, helped relieve severe
constipation, a new study found.
Chinese
researchers studied 1,075 patients with severe functional constipation, which
means they were unable to have a complete bowel movement more than twice a
week. The study subjects all reported a number of unpleasant symptoms,
including hard stools, a sensation of incomplete evacuation and often needing
to strain when going to the bathroom. They were randomly assigned to receive
either a form of acupuncture or a sham procedure, according to the report
published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.
For the
treatment group, the researchers used electro-acupuncture, in which low-voltage
currents are passed through acupuncture needles. Trained acupuncturists
inserted needles at six acupuncture points in the abdomen deep enough to
puncture the muscle layer of the abdominal wall, and then passed current
through attached wires for 30 minutes. The control group received shallow
needles at nonacupuncture points, with electrical wires attached in the same
way, but with no current passing through them. The procedures were repeated in
28 sessions over eight weeks.
Participants in
both groups were allowed to use a laxative every three days if needed, and they
recorded their use in diaries.
During the
eight weeks of treatment, 31.3 percent of people in the treatment group showed
improvement (measured by three or more bowel movements per week without the
need for laxatives) compared with just 12.1 percent in the control group who
improved. Over the 12 weeks of follow-up, 37.7 percent of the treatment group
reported similar levels of improvement, compared to 14.1 percent of the
patients in the control group.
The authors
acknowledge that the acupuncture treatment could not be fully blinded, possibly
influencing the researchers’ expectations. While it’s not known exactly why
acupuncture may have made a difference, one theory is that the treatment
stimulates the muscles along the gastrointestinal tract.
The researchers
noted that more study is needed. “Though the safety of acupuncture is good, we
do not suggest it as a first-line treatment,” said the lead author, Dr. Marie
Jia Liu of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. “The people in this
study had severe constipation.”
A version of this article appears in print on September 13, 2016, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Alternative Medicine; Acupuncture and Constipation.
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