Stomach Food Stagnation

TCM Diagnostic Pattern

Stomach Food Stagnation TCM Pattern Connections

Below you will find various relationships to the concept of and potential approaches for stomach food stagnation.

Stomach Food Stagnation is one of many possible underlying factors from a TCM perspective for health issues such as abdominal pain, anorexia nervosa, diarrhea, epigastric pain, indigestion, nausea, stomach cancer, and/or vomiting.

The above issues are common examples. In clinical situations, however, there are any number of other possibilities. Many times there will be a layered combination of issues intermixed from a variety of causal patterns in TCM terms. While initially complex, this is illustrative of the the web of relationships that Chinese Medicine is designed to approach.

General TCM Diagnostic Signs

Tongue: Thick yellow or white coat.
Pulse: Full, slippery.

Treatment approaches are often akin to unravelling an onion, with the goal of resolving the root factor involved in the constellation of resulting issues. The current and historical array of issues and signs must be taken into consideration as well as the timing of the onset of each individual aspect.

Related Acupuncture Protocols

When developing an acupuncture protocol a practitioner is very often focusing on the causal diagnoses in Chinese Medicine terms, not on the condition itself. To guide you towards treatment potentials, stomach food stagnation is referenced in the following acupuncture protocol sections:

Related Acupuncture Points

Some acupuncture points are considered "empirically" related to a specific diagnostic patter or condition. While this would rarely, if ever, dictate the entire composition of a treatment, the following points should be considered, possibly even more so within the context of acupressure:

  • View KD 18 (Stone Pass)

        3 cun above CV 8, .5 cun lateral to CV 11.

        Local Point for abdominal and intestinal issues.   Pain, hiccups, vomiting, harmonizes stomach. Fertility issues involving stagnation in the lower warmer. Abdominal pain following childbirth.
  • View KD 21 (Dark Gate)

        6 cun above CV 8, .5 cun lateral to CV 14.

        Local point for abdominal and intestinal pain and functional issues. Reflux, vomiting, food stagnation, dystenary - harmonizes stomach. Liver stagnation affecting the breasts - insufficient lactation, breast distention.
  • View ST 30 (Surging Qi)

        2 cun lateral to the AML level with CV 2.

        Upper Sea of Water & Grain Point - excess or deficient conditions of the Stomach - hypogastric pain, bloating, abdominal pain. Regulates the Intestines - borborygmus, hernia - rectal, inguinal. Regulates genitalia - swelling and pain…
  • View ST 34 (Beam Hill)

        With knee flexed, 2 cun above the superior lateral border of the patella on the line connecting with the ASIS.

        Lateral knee issues, swelling, pain, difficult movement. Pain, motor control, circulation issues of the knee and/or lower leg. Excess & Acute issues of the Stomach and chest - acute Stomach pain, GERD, vomiting, acute breast pain.
  • View ST 37 (Upper Great Hollow)

        6 cun below ST 35, one finger width lateral from the anterior border of the tibia.

        Generally for excess and more acute disorders of the intestines and digestive system involving dampness and/or heat - diarrhea, dysentary, boborygmus, abdominal pain, bloating, distention, constipation. Sea of Blood Point - if excess the …
  • View UB 21 (Stomach Shu)

        1.5 cun lateral to GV line, level with T12.

        Main point for all Stomach related issues in TCM diagnostic terms - harmonizes the stomach, transforms damp and resolves stagnation:  food stagnation, abdominal distention, borborygmus, mouth ulcers, vomiting, belching, nausea, etc. Disso…
  • View UB 22 (Triple Burner Shu)

        1.5 cun lateral to GV 5, level with L1.

        As Triple Heater Shu this point effects conditions related to imbalances between the upper and lower parts of the body especially those related to water: edema, bloating, ascites, borborygmus, difficult or painful urination, urinary retent…

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