Acupuncture in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Gengqing Song, MD, Claudio Fiocchi, MD, Jean-Paul Achkar, MD · Inflammatory Bowel Diseases · 2018 December 11

Objective

The aim of this review is to evaluate the mechanisms of action and efficacy of acupuncture in IBD and associated symptoms

Conclusions

This review have showed effectiveness of acupuncture in IBD with history and methodology of acupuncture. Symptoms such as abdominal pain, impaired gastrointestinal tract , depression/anxiety, and hypersensitivity have significantly improved. Patients also reported a better overall quality of life of patients.

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Insights

Acupuncture has been shown to decrease disease activity and inflammation via increase of vagal activity in inflammatory bowel disease.

In this review, we discuss the history, theory, and methodology of acupuncture and review potentially beneficial mechanisms of action of acupuncture for managing inflammatory bowel disease. Acupuncture has been shown to decrease disease activity and inflammation via increase of vagal activity in inflammatory bowel disease. Acupuncture has demonstrated beneficial roles 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.