I want to share Hand Therapy to improve constipation. Please try to press the following 4 points. When you press the points, please make sure the bathroom is close enough to go right after pressing these points. Don’t press the points in the public transportations or outside you can’t find a bathroom.
 
1. Sigmoid colon (Left hand)
Slid down your finger from the ring finger and the point is located where the finger stops, or 2 thumbs above from the wrist crease.

2. Rectum (Left hand)
The point is located next to the point for Sigmoid colon.

3. Diencephalon (Both hands)
The point is located at the center of the pad of the thumb, where is the center of the fingerprint.

4. Ovary/Testicle (Both hands)
The point is located at 2 thumbs below the bone at the wrist.

[Tips]
1. It is more effective to find tender or painful point around the points.
2. Use the edge of the finger when you press the point.
3. Press the above points for 7 seconds/3 times each, and 3 to 5 times a day.
4. Drink a glass of water to excrete waste products after pressing the points.

When the intestines don’t work well, wastes and toxins are not discharged properly, and necessary nutrition is not absorbed. 70% of lymphocytes that control the immune system exist in the intestines. Having a trouble with the intestines lowers the immunity and causes various diseases.
 
To reduce the burden on the intestines, the most important thing is chewing well. Additionally, secreting saliva is also important. Secreting saliva helps the digestion and reduces the burden on the stomach and intestines. Saliva also contains immune substance harmonizing the hormone balance and has bactericidal action.
 
Saliva is secreted by chewing well, but to secrete more saliva, it is good to massage the following salivary glands.
 
(1)   Subaural glands located below the ear lobe
(2)   Submandibular gland located below the jaw
(3)   Sublingual gland located below the tongue
(4)   Between Submandibular gland and Sublingual gland
 
(4) is not a gland but it is the most effective and saliva spouts out like a shower.
 
You can massage these areas as often as you like.

​Food to solve constipation
 
Cold Udon noodles
 
When carbohydrate gets cold, starch contained in carbohydrate gets crystalized. The carbohydrate becomes difficult to be digested, reaches the large intestine without breaking down in the small intestine and the amount of stools increases.
 
Any cold carbohydrate has the same effect.
 

​Apple pectin is a dietary fiber contained in apples and harmonizes the intestinal environment.
 
At the time of constipation, apple pectin softens the stool and encourages the bowel movement.
 
At the time of diarrhea, apple pectin protects the inside of intestines not to damage.
 
The best method to eat apples to harmonize intestinal environment is…
 
Cutting an apple with the skin into round slices (Fig. 1).
 
Why cutting an apple with the skin into round slices is good?
 
Because apple pectin is rich between the skin and the flesh, it is important to eat an apple including the skin.
 
Cutting into round slices makes it easier to eat the skin and enables to eat near the core of the apple.
 
Other nutrition like polyphenol or vitamin E is rich around the skin, so it is better to eat an apple with the skin.
 

​1st: Chosen by 31 out of 100 Acupuncturists
 
Indications
 
Stiff neck and shoulders, Headache, Cold intolerance, Edema, Stress, Anxiety, Insomnia, Tiredness of Eyes, Low back pain, Knee pain, Constipation, Menstrual cramps, rough skin, High blood pressure, Diarrhea, Pollen allergy, Sore throat, Toothache, Dizziness, Snoring, Ringing in ears
 
This acupuncture point is all-around and the strongest acupuncture point effective for various symptoms all over the body.
 
Acupuncture point
 
Large Intestine-4 (LI4)
 
Location of LI4
 
LI4 is located where the bones of the index finger and the thumb meets and is the index finger side (Fig. 1).
 
Pressing LI4 promotes the secretion of the substance having an analgesic effect and affects the symptoms all over the body.
 
How to press LI4
 
Push your thumb into the inside of your index finger and count 10 (Fig. 2).

​2nd: Chosen by 23 out of 100 Acupuncturists
 
Indications
 
Low back pain, Knee pain, Tiredness of legs, Constipation, Tiredness of stomach
 
Acupuncture Point
 
Stomach-36 (ST36)
 
Location of ST36
 
ST36 is located where the finger hits the bone when pushing the bone below the knee upward (Fig. 1).
 
Pressing ST36 improves the blood flow around the low back and the whole legs and promotes the function of the stomach and intestines through the brain.
 
How to press ST36
 
(1) Overlap your thumbs one another on ST36 and push toward your knee (Fig. 2).
(2) When you push for 5 seconds, release for 5 seconds (Fig. 3).
(3) Repeat 5 times.

​Dietary fibers and fermented foods are famous to improve constipation.
 
But what is introduced today is Kiwifruits.
 
Kiwifruits were paid attention to from the medical profession in an international symposium in New Zealand 2 years ago.
 
The dietary fibers in kiwifruits contain a lot of water. Water-retaining amount of kiwifruits is twice as much as apples or oranges. When kiwifruits come to the large intestine, hard stools are moisturized and softened by the retained water. The softened stools move quickly in the large intestine and are smoothly eliminated.
 
Experiment
 
A woman suffering from constipation for 30 years tried to eat at least one kiwifruit a day in one of three meals for 1 weak. The 2nd day she had 4 bowel movements, and the stool was soft and formed instead of small pieces. After that, she had a bowel movement every day. In addition to the improvement of constipation, she lost weight.

If you don’t have a bowel movement for a long time, the stools in the intestine get rotten and toxic substances get spread all over the body, causing rough skin, edema or other symptoms.
 
In addition to that, rotten stools block the intestine and in the worst case, the intestine bursts.
 
The causes of constipation can be that the intestine’s strength declines with aging or that the intestine doesn’t work properly due to stress, but there is another unexpected cause.
 
What is the difference between people who have regular bowel movements and people who are constipated?
 
The difference is the movement of the intestine.
 
In the intestine of people who are constipated, peristalsis occurs, which is a contraction and relaxation of muscles, and push stool forward slowly. This movement occurs 24 hours regardless of whether you are sleeping or waking, but this movement only can push stool forward slowly, causing constipation.
 
On the other hand, in the intestine of people who have regular bowel movements, mass-peristalsis occurs, which speed of pushing stool forward is 200 times faster than peristalsis.
 
Mass-peristalsis occurs only a few times a day.
 
How can you occur mass-peristalsis?
 
The required condition is only one thing.
 
Don’t eat anything between meals for 8 hours.
 
It seems difficult to eat nothing while awake, but it is not difficult while sleeping. If you don’t eat anything after dinner until breakfast for 8 hours, you can make mass-peristalsis occur.
 
Why does mass-peristalsis occur if you don’t eat for 8 hours?
 
When you eat something, the food goes to the stomach and is digested taking about 3 hours and then it goes to the small intestine and is digested taking about 5 hours.
 
So 8 hours later since all the digested food goes to the large intestine, the stomach and the small intestine become empty. At this moment, mass-peristalsis occurs in the large intestine.
 
But if you eat something before 8 hours pass after a meal, the stomach and the small intestine don’t become empty so that mass-peristalsis doesn’t occur.
 
Recommended schedule
 
If you start eating dinner at 7 pm and finish it at 8 pm, go to bed at 11 pm.
 
It is important to finish dinner 3 hours before going to bed to digest the food before going to bed. If you don’t digest food before going to bed, you can’t have relaxed sleep. Relaxed condition leads to mass-peristalsis more easily.
 
At 4 am mass-peristalsis starts to occur and the stools in the large intestine move close to the anus.
 
When you get up, drink a glass of water.
 
Stimulation to the stomach by the water is transmitted to the large intestine, the large intestine starts to move actively, resulting in the encouragement of bowel movements in the morning.
 
Experiment
 
7 women who had been suffering from constipation tried this method for 1 week and 6 of 7 women had improvement.

Stroke and heart attack are caused by the hardness of the artery, but there is a cause drawing an attention in the medical world.
 
The cause is constipation.
 
Stools accumulated in the intestine produce a huge amount of toxin which damages the blood vessel, developing diseases.
 
According to a research published on The American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2010, having constipation doubles the risk of dying from heart attack or stroke in 15 years compared to not having constipation.
 
So it is important to solve constipation as soon as possible.
 
In general, it is said that dietary fibers and fermented food are good for constipation.
 
Dietary fibers increase the amount of stool and push the stool out.
Fermented food regulates the intestinal bacteria, activating the movement of the intestine and promoting a bowel movement.

But there are a lot of people who are suffering from constipation Even if they eat dietary fibers and fermented food regularly.  
 
The key word to improve constipation is bile acid, which is a type of digestive juices owned by everybody in the body.
 
When bile acid and what is eaten reach the large intestine, the large intestine starts to move actively, forming and delivering stool to the anus.
 
Food increasing the amount of bile acid reaching the large intestine
 
The food is Allium chinense.
 
The more water soluble dietary fiber is eaten, the more Bile acid is included in stool.
 
Allium chinense is rich in water soluble dietary fiber.
 
When you eat general food, bile acid is absorbed in the small intestine and barely reaches the large intestine.
 
On the other hand, when you eat food containing a lot of water soluble dietary fiber, water soluble dietary fiber wraps around bile acid, making bile acid difficult to be absorbed in the small intestine, and bile acid reaching the large intestine activates the movement of the large intestine, improving constipation.
 
Water soluble dietary fiber content (within 100 grams):
Okura: 1.4 g
Burdock: 2.3 g
Allium chinense: 9.1 g
 
Though Allium chinense is rich in water soluble dietary fiber, the amount of water soluble dietary fiber needed to eat in order to improve constipation is 6 grams per day, which is 8 pieces of Allium chinense.
 
Bile acid is secreted more when oil is taken.
 
It is good to stir-fry or deep fry Allium chinense because bile acid can be delivered effectively to the large intestine by taking oil and water soluble dietary fiber at the same time.
 
Experiment:
 
A 70 years old woman who had been suffering from constipation for 50 years and had a bowel movement once in every 3 days attended the experiment. The secretion of her bile acid was poor. She ate 8 pieces of Allium chinense per day for 5 days and had bowel movements 4 times within 5 days.

​Q1. Which vegetable contains more dietary fibers?
(A) Lettuce (B) Cabbage (C) Spinach
 
A1. (C) Spinach
Within 100 grams, lettuce contains 1.2 grams, cabbage contains 1.8 grams and spinach contains 2.8 grams of dietary fibers.
 
Q2. Which contains more dietary fibers?
(A) Rice (B) Bread (C) Udon noodle
 
A2. (B) Bread
Within 100 grams, rice contains 0.3 grams, Udon noodles contains 0.8 grams and bread contains 2.4 grams of dietary fibers.
 
If you like eating rice, it is recommended to mix brown rice to get more dietary fibers.
 
Bad Constipation and Good Constipation
 
In 2017, it was published that there was the constipation you can leave as was and the constipation you should not leave as was.
 
Constipation you should not leave as is:

• Condition that you can’t comfortably eliminate the stool you have to eliminate
• Harmful effects such as irritation, rough skin

 
Constipation you can leave as is:

• Less frequency but no irritation or rough skin
• No accumulation of stool found by X-ray (For example, there is a case that there is almost no accumulating stool found by X-ray even if there has been no bowel movement for 10 days.)

 
When the constipation is the one you can leave as is, taking laxative can lead to the constipation you should not leave as is or to laxative dependence.
 
Check whether or not you can leave your constipation as is

• I have bowel movements less than 3 times a week.
• I often have stomachache.
• My stool seems hard.
• I can’t eliminate stool without strain.
• I feel like I still have stools in my abdomen.
• I feel stools stuck in the anus.

 
If you have more than 2 clauses applied to you, you have to be careful.
 
There are 2 types of the constipation you should not leave as is.
 
1. Constipation with stool like rabbit pellets
 
There is not enough amount of stool, it is good to take dietary fibers to increase the amount of stool.
 
2. Constipation with pain due to difficulty to pass stool
 
Intestines are twisted and stool is hard so that it is difficult to pass stool. Even if you take dietary fibers, the amount of stool increases only, but stool can’t pass through the narrowed part due to twisting.
 
In this case, it is good to take Soybean oligosaccharides which soften stool and also become the energy source of good bacteria.
 
There is a food which is effective for both types of constipation.
The food contains both dietary fibers and soybean oligosaccharides a lot.
 
Dietary fiber within 100 grams
Burdock: 5.7 g
Dried persimmon: 14 g
The food: 18.1 g
 
Soybean oligosaccharides within 100 grams
Tofu: 0.4 g
Soy milk: 0.5 g
The food: 7.0 g
 
Experiment
 
7 women who are suffering from either type of constipation ate the food for a week.
The number of their bowel movements were improved as below.
 
(Before): during the week
 
1. Constipation with stool like rabbit pellets
(1): 5, (2): 5, (2): 6
 
2. Constipation with pain
(1): 5, (2): 16, (2): 7, (3): 9
 
The food very effective to improve constipation is Kinako (Soybean flour).
 
It is recommended to take 20 grams per day, which about 4 table spoons.
 
Eating Kinako with yogurt is recommended because yogurt contains good bacteria and Kinako contains oligosaccharides which become food of good bacteria.