First, we have to understand what constipation is: It is when the stool is dry and hard to move out, and you are only pooing once every several days. But clinically, I found it should be called “bowel movement difficulty” instead of constipation, as a lot of clients have told me that it takes them a long time or several days to poo, but the stool is not dry. This shouldn’t be called constipation.

To put it in a simpler way to understand, dryness is due to lack of liquid. One reason might be that you don’t take in enough liquid types of food, or you take in too much spicy food or too much high-protein types of food. Another reason is due to kidney deficiency. Basically, your body doesn’t supply enough utilizable water. If you don’t feel the urge to poo, it’s mostly due to coldness. Basically, your intestines, including both small intestines and large intestines, are not getting enough energy to move.

So, the treatment would be a bit different.

As most constipation is due to a lack of body energy to poo every day, or you cannot poo enough out, you can do moxibustion at the lower back Da Chang Shu area, and the front Shen Que (CV8), together with Tian Shu (ST 25) and Zusanli (ST 36), Shang Ju Xu (ST 37) and Xia Ju Xu (ST39), and also Hegu (LI4) and Zhi Gou (TE6). The stomach and intestines are connected, not only in physiological structure, but also from a meridian point of view. 

If the dryness is due to a diet issue, you should try to adjust your diet, such as eating higher fiber vegetables, a bit less spicy foods and less meat products. If it is not a diet issue, you should think of kidney deficiency. You can do moxibustion on Zhi Gou (TE6) and Zhao Hai (KI6) points, as well as Shen Shu (BL 23) and Da Chang Shu (BL 25).