Acupuncture for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) - Needling Depth May Lead to Improved Results

Acupuncture and related Chinese Medicine techniques are commonly used to treat a wide range of digestive and bowel related medical conditions.  Irritable bowel syndromes is a commonly treated condition within many acupuncture clinics around the world as western treatments are often limited or undesirable due to side effects.  Because of the wide range of related symptoms and causes from a Chinese diagnostic perspective there are many options for treating IBS.  Within this study, researchers from Xiyuan Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing conducted a study using needling depth prescriptions from the Lingshu (or Miraculous Pivot) - an important classical text within Chinese Medicine.

Within this study researchers treated 21 patients with IBS 2-3 times per week with 8 treatments equal to one session - each patient was given two sessions for purposes of the study.  Researchers used the following points:

• Zhangmen (LV 13)
• Zhongwan (CV 12)
• Tianshu (ST 25)
• Guanyuan (CV 4)
• Qimen (LV 14)
• Quchi (LI 11)
• Hegu (LI 4)
• Yinlingquan (SP 9)
• Zusanli (ST 36)
• Taichong (LV 3)

Even needling techniques were used and all points were needled between 2-12 mm in depth using the Ling Shu prescriptions.  Improvement in IBS symptoms were gauged using the IBS-SSS scale.  Researchers found an effective rate of 52.4% after the 1st round of treatment and 90.5% after the 2nd round.