The author has used qigong combined with acupuncture to treat obstinate constipation and found the result to be quite effective. The following are 57 cases of patients with obstinate constipation treated by the combination of qigong and acupuncture. Among the patients; 31 were male, 26 were female, age range from 22 to 76 years. The shortest history of symptom was half year, the longest was more than 30 years.

Treatment: Main points: zhigou (SJ.6), shangjuxu (St.37)

According to the differentiation of Chinese Medical Science, obstinate constipation can be classified into 4 types and treated by different points and methods. But before treatment, both doctor and patient need to use qigong method.

a) Shi type: Secondary point: hegu (LI.4), quchi (LI.22) (with resolution method)

b) Xu type: Secondary points: zusanli (St.36), qihai (Ren.6) (with invigoration method)

c) Qizhi type: Secondary points: zhong wan (Ren.12), xing jian (Liv.2) (normal reinforcement and normal reduction)

d) Yin han type: Secondary points: shenque (Ren.8), qihai (Ren.6) ) (with moxibustion invigoration method)

Results of the treatment:

Among the 56 cases, 54 patients were cured effectively, that is 95%; 3 patients were not cured, that is 5%. In the effective cure cases, patients could open bowel after insertion of needles in 20 minutes (the shortest time), the longest time was 8 hours. Many patients are able to open bowel in 1 hour. While the ineffective cases, one of the patients was hemiplegia para, the other tow were cerebravascular accident patients, their history of symptom was over ten years. That means combination of acupuncture and qigong to treat obstinate constipation is very effective.

Qigong and acupuncture treatment for 57 cases of obstinate constipation