An article intended for practitioners of Chinese medicine:

Today I want to raise a very disturbing topic that is not talked about enough: fecal incontinence.

Although the issue is not talked about enough, it is known that fecal incontinence is relatively common (up to 20% of the population) and of course it leads to a very significant impairment in quality of life.

Fecal incontinence is one of the issues I enjoy treating the most because I see really good results in the clinic and I know how difficult this issue is for those who suffer from it.

In an interesting study published a few months ago in the medical journal Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, one can also see the effectiveness of acupuncture in this regard.

The study compared the effectiveness of acupuncture and biofeedback in 85 people (note how common the phenomenon is) who suffered from at least 2 episodes of fecal incontinence per week.

The patients received acupuncture treatments (it already specifies which points were pricked) or biofeedback for 10 weeks, and were then followed up for another 5 weeks.

The good news is that both the acupuncture group and the biofeedback group had a very large improvement in fecal leakage.

After fifteen weeks, the biofeedback group improved from an average of 16 events per week to an average of 7.5 events and the acupuncture group decreased from an average of 15 events to just 3 events! (on average per week).

In both the acupuncture and biofeedback groups, there was an improvement in the patients' quality of life, which was reflected in improved lifestyle, coping, depression, and embarrassment.

In both groups there was also an improvement in the clinical condition, but in the acupuncture group, the improvement was greater.

The acupuncture points that were pricked were: BL31-34, BL23, BL20, BL25, GV20, CV6, CV4, SP6, KID3, LI4, ST36, LIV3 with the use of electro and moxibustion.

I don't choose these points in the clinic, but I do see a lot of effectiveness in fecal incontinence caused by moisture or weak rectal muscles.

The rectal muscles can be strengthened by acupuncture with needles around the navel (I gave a short lecture on this as part of the Journal Club Medicine, you are welcome to view the link). https://vimeo.com/941673118?share=copy)

Of course, you can combine biofeedback treatment with acupuncture treatment to maximize results, and of course, ensure proper nutrition.

I am attaching a link to the research summary for those interested: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38954475/

Have a good week 🌸

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