Acupuncture Awareness Week March 6th-12th

The theme of this year's acupuncture awareness week is Acupuncture For The Treatment of Digestive Disorders. There are many different conditions of the digestive system which acupuncture can treat. It can relieve symptoms such as reflux, wind, bloating and epigastric pain, and also acute conditions such as vomiting and diarrhoea. In Chinese Medicine, some of the causes of disease of the digestive system are

• Diet: certain foods are more difficult than others to tolerate, depending on the constitution of the individual. Eating poor quality food, with low nutritional value such as convenience foods and sugary snacks can cause imbalances in the digestive system, as can alcohol.
• Stress: eating too quickly, or eating while engaged in another activity, e.g. reading, or eating too much in one sitting
• Eating too much cold food: The stomach can be compared to a cauldron, where food is 'ripened and rotted'. Digestive enzymes work best in a warm environment, so drinking cold or iced drinks while eating, or eating large quantities of salads can slow down the digestive process, leading to bloating, gas, and discomfort.
• Eating too much hot food: Heat, from, for example eating too much spicy food,  can build up in the intestines, and cause irritation to the delicate gut wall. This type of heat is often evident in conditions such as IBS or Colitis.
• Emotional Problems: Serotonin levels are linked to efficient digestion, so if, for example a person is feeling sad or depressed, this will cause imbalances in the digestive system, often leading to loss of appetite

Condtitions which can be treated using acupuncture to rebalance and harmonise the function of the Stomach, Spleen (the duodenum, in Chinese Medicine) and liver iinclude 

• Colic
• Reflux
• Indigestion
• IBS
• Gastroenteritis
• Morning Sickness
• Diarrhoea
• Constipation
• Nausea
• Ulcerative Colitis
• Crohn's Disease

In conjunction with acupuncture treatment it is important to take a look at dietary habits. A food intolerance test, which only takes a couple of minutes to take is also available at this clinic, and can be very helpful in identifying problem foods. For more information on this test see: http://www.fitzwilliamfoodtest.com/

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