Acupuncture alleviates gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

Condition analysis:
Esophageal dysmotility is a major cause of GERD (Wong et al.). In GERD patients, the stomach and duodenum’s contents regurgitate into the esophagus thereby causing heartburn or a variety of acid indigestion complications. Treatment with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medications is commonly used for mitigating acid indigestion, but is yet unable to treat NERD with esophageal dysmotility. Martinucci et al. note that "actual therapeutic options are limited because there is no specific pharmacological intervention that reliably restores LES function." As a result, acupuncture remains an important treatment option. Let’s take a look at the results of the investigation. Thirty-two NERD patients with esophageal dysmotility were involved in the study. Patients received acupuncture treatment for a total of four weeks. Selected acupoints for the treatment were:

Neiguan (PC6)
Taichong (LV3)
Gongsun (SP4)
Zhongwan (CV12)
Zusanli (ST36)

Instructions:
Acupuncture is a type of traditional Chinese medicine that’s been around for at least 4,000 years. It uses small needles to rebalance energy flow and stimulate healing. Only recently are there clinical trials studying the effectiveness of acupuncture for GERD.

One clinical trial reported that acupuncture significantly decreased the symptoms of GERD. Participants scored their results based on 38 symptoms, including issues that involved:

digestive system problems
back pain
sleep
headache
Another study found positive effects on decreasing stomach acid as well as LES regulation.

Electroacupuncture (EA), another form of acupuncture, uses electrical current along with the needles. Studies are still new, but one found that using needleless EA increased LES pressure and reduced acid reflux. The combination of electroacupuncture and proton pump inhibitors resulted in significant improvement.