Moxibustion — which involves heating different areas of the body with burning mugwort leaves — was found in one meta-analysis to be superior to medication for improving bloating and bowel movement frequency in IBS-D, but with a high risk of bias due to the lack of blinding in nearly all studies.[1] Tong Xie Yao Fang, a traditional Chinese medicine formula, was also reported to be superior to conventional treatment in another meta-analysis that also cited a high risk of bias due to the lack of blinding and randomization.[2] Shugan Jianpi Zhixie (an ingredient of Tong Xie Yao Fang) was more effective than placebo according to one meta-analysis that only included randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, but it wasn’t compared to conventional treatment.[3]
References
- ^Tang B, Zhang J, Yang Z, Lu Y, Xu Q, Chen X, Lin JMoxibustion for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med.(2016)
- ^Dai YK, Li DY, Zhang YZ, Huang MX, Zhou YL, Ye JT, Wang Q, Hu LEfficacy and safety of Modified Tongxie Yaofang in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome management: A meta-analysis of randomized, positive medicine-controlled trials.PLoS One.(2018)
- ^Xiao Y, Liu Y, Huang S, Sun X, Tang Y, Cheng J, Wang T, Li F, Kuang Y, Luo R, Zhao XThe efficacy of Shugan Jianpi Zhixie therapy for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome: a meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials.PLoS One.(2015)