At CSC+M in Midtown, NYC we focus on rehabilitating and alleviating pain in musculoskeletal cases. Acupuncture is a great addition to all the services offered at our New York City integrative physical medicine clinic. As an acupuncturist in NYC, I am excited to be a part of the team because I am able to use my skillset to enhance the body’s healing mechanism. One way we’re able to influence this, is by treating the digestion.
In acupuncture, the digestion forms the basis of the 12 channel system. In each blog post, I mention the channel system because it is the foundation of acupuncture and without this theory, we would not be able to treat the digestive system in particular. When treating the digestion we are examining the 12 channels, but we are focused on the systems that relate to the digestive process itself. These channels primarily include the stomach, pancreas, large intestine, and small intestine.
Why is the Digestive System Important?
I have been practicing acupuncture for 13 years, but have recently moved to NYC. In all of my years of practice, I have noticed that if the digestive system is off, things are slow to heal. I find this especially true when treating pain. If a person is not digesting properly, nutrients needed to heal the tissue planes are not readily available.
In addition, every digestive channel passes through two key areas. Number one is the abdomen itself, as the channel connects to the organ. Number two is the area between the clavicle and shoulder blade. This area is a very important area to keep open because the digestive channels will pass from the trapezius to the neck, or from the neck through the trapezius and into the shoulder. If a person has neck or shoulder pain, which is responding slowly to treatment, by treating the digestion, a person may experience a breakthrough in the treatment journey.
In these diagrams the small intestine channel is pictured on the left while the large intestine channel is pictured on the right. The red line indicates the pathway of the channel. You can see in both diagrams the channel passes from the shoulder to the trapezius. At the trapezius there are two branches one goes to the neck and the other dives into the abdomen as it connects with the organ.
Acupuncture Regulates Digestive Movements
There are two basic conditions that acupuncture treats, slow digestion and fast digestion. Slow digestion refers to illnesses such as constipation, while fast digestion refers to diarrhea. Both cases may be accompanied by other symptoms such as fatigue, gas, bloating, and pain. People may have a tendency to run in one direction either slow or fast, or they may alternate between slow and fast. Digestion is a process of the parasympathetic nervous system. Many times people with digestive issues are stressed out and have noticed a correlation between stress levels, lack of sleep, and problems with digestion.
Acupuncture helps to get the body and mind out of fight or flight mode i.e. the sympathetic nervous system. Acupuncture works by promoting circulation, which helps calm the nervous system. As the nervous system becomes more balanced, digestion regulates and improves.
Midtown NYC Acupuncture Treatments: Acupuncture Used to Alleviate Digestive Problems
I have been treating a woman at CSC+M in Midtown, NYC using acupuncture who has moderate to severe constipation, often times not having a bowel movement for 3 – 4 days with no urgency or indication to defecate. The stool itself was dry and pebble like. She experiences gas, bloating, and pain on daily basis, has high stress levels, with difficulty sleeping. She originally came to the clinic because of right side neck pain, which has improved greatly, but continued to have feelings of tightness in the trapezius. Examination revealed impairments of the lung, spleen/pancreas, and stomach channels.
In acupuncture the lung and spleen/pancreas are responsible for fluid movement throughout the body. Impairments of these channels can cause dryness in the stool. In addition to treating these channels we treated the stomach channel. In particular we treated the lower region of the large intestine channel because it showed abnormal pathology as well as the outflow tract of the lower abdomen.
NYC Acupuncture Results
After 1 treatment, she had daily bowel movements, but the stool was still dry and small. After 3 treatments she had bowel movements every 1-2 days with less dryness in the stool, and decreases in pain, gas, and bloating. After 6 treatments, the stools were no longer dry, she experiences the urge to defecate on daily basis, no gas, no bloating and no pain. In addition, she has had significant improvements in her neck stiffness.
