Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Shiatsu

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, can be a distressing and difficult condition. Sufferers can be subject to wild swings from diarrhoea to constipation, stomach cramping and nausea with no seeming pattern or warning. For some the problem is constant, for others it comes and goes, sometimes with weeks or months between episodes. This is obviously inconvenient, but it can also have a major impact on peoples’ social and working lives. It is estimated that as many as one in five of the population display some symptoms of IBS, yet the cause remains a mystery to modern medical science. Most theories relate to stress or food intolerance, while others cite the immune system as a possible cause.

Shiatsu practitioners look on IBS as a symptom of the whole body rather than just of the digestive system. In accordance with some of the more modern theories, we find that stress is often a factor, and sometimes simple de-stressing and lifestyle advice can be enough to alleviate the symptoms while others require more specific ‘point’ work to redress the imbalance.