Electro-acupoint stimulation – a new approach to Crohn’s disease?

The small study recruited 17 Crohn’s disease patients and 20 matched individuals without Crohn’s between June 2014 and December 2014. The patients received transdermal acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) for an hour twice a day, two hours after a meal, at an acupoint on the stomach meridian below the knee – the Zusanli (ST 36).

Data from humans and animals

Co-author Jiande Chen, Ph.D. of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, said:

“We have published numerous studies showing that electrical stimulation via the acupuncture points using surface electrodes can enhance vagal activity,” he commented. “By enhancing vagal activity, we have shown in animals with intestinal inflammation that such electrical stimulation can suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines and thus reduce inflammation.”

In the clinical study, the patients received the electrical stimulation through a watch-sized battery powered stick-on device. The needle-less stimulation device can deliver a variety of stimulation digitally, and was developed by Chen through a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Rebalancing the nervous system

For the first three days, stimulation was administered at the hospital, and then the patients were instructed in use and placement of the stimulator and sent home.

Results suggest that the treatment can help balance the function of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems resulting in less inflammation.