Shiatsu for IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
Your digestive tract is a formidable system, when your gut’s off, everything feels off. Your whole-body wellness begins in the gut - Here's how I can help!
Understanding IBS: Beyond Just the Gut
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IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) can present a range of uncomfortable and frustrating symptoms: abdominal pain and cramping, alternating diarrhoea and constipation, bloating, excess gas, disrupted sleep, and even lower back pain. One of the most disheartening aspects is not knowing the exact cause—and being told to cut out multiple food groups, often through slow trial and error.
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IBS is more than just a digestive issue. It's a pattern of imbalance—and to truly understand what’s going on, we need to dig deeper.
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Where Does IBS Begin?
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Is IBS caused by dysfunction in the large intestine or the small intestine? Where do you feel the pain and bloating? Which areas are tender to touch? Does it affect you more in the morning or at night? What’s the texture and frequency of your stools?
These questions may seem simple, but they help build a bigger picture of what's happening in your gut—a long, complex system involving multiple organs and functions.
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And have you considered how your IBS might be affecting the way you think, feel, and sleep?
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The Brain–Gut Connection, Simplified
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Let me put it simply, based on years of research, training, and clinical experience:
Your gut contains nearly as many neurotransmitters as your brain.
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That “gut feeling” you get? It’s real. The caveman “fight or flight” response? Also largely driven by gut signals. Your gut isn't just a tube for processing food—it’s a communication hub that plays a vital role in emotional regulation, immunity, energy, and so much more.
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This complex network—from your throat, through your stomach, small and large intestines, to the rectum—is influenced by other key organs, including the liver, gallbladder, spleen, and pancreas. When any part of the digestive tract is imbalanced, the effects ripple outward—impacting your entire body.
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Your Microbiome: A Universe Within
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Within your gut lives the microbiome—a universe of bacteria working hard to process, protect, and signal throughout your body. Everything you eat, and even everything you feel, influences this delicate ecosystem.
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A balanced microbiome supports your health. An imbalanced one can lead to infections (like Candida), fatigue, brain fog, and worsening IBS symptoms. Processed foods, excess sugar, yeast, and stress all wreak havoc here.
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Not All Calories Are Equal
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A common misconception is that “a calorie is just a calorie.” But the truth is, not all calories nourish you equally.
A calorie from a burger isn’t the same as a calorie from a carrot. One may give you energy, but the other provides nutrients your body can actually use to heal and thrive. And no, you can’t live off 100% of either—balance, variety, and awareness are key.
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If you’re struggling with IBS and food elimination hasn’t helped, there’s more to explore and this can be impacted by emotions.
Understanding the whole-body patterns through Chinese Medicine, the microbiome, and the gut-brain connection might just hold the answers you’ve been looking for.
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Shiatsu and the understanding of how your mindbody works with TCM is incredibly supportive for IBS relief and gut health issues.
How does shiatsu help relieve irritable bowel syndrome?
How exactly does Shiatsu help IBS, especially after I’ve just gone some way to explaining that food and drink is a major part of IBS?
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See my Top Tip below to start lessening your symptoms today!
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Shiatsu is the physical therapy part, it’s how we press the acu-points, very gently; whereas in Acupuncture they would use the needles. The powerful part of my therapy is the Chinese Medicine and the understanding of your body and health patterns, alongside the physiology of your body and understanding how the Microbiome works and the gut-brain link too. Combining all of this information I’m able to use the Shiatsu to start rebalancing all the vital organs that I mentioned above which are in a state of crisis if your IBS is bad.
If you’re suffering and food testing hasn’t resolved your symptoms then my understanding of how your body's energy patterns work with TCM can help support you to make real improvements in your health in mind as well as body.
Andrea from Shiatsu Bodyworks Cheltenham recommends:​
The Simplest IBS Advice I Give to Everyone—And It Really Helps:
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This is the simplest, quickest and most effective advice I give to every person who tells me they have IBS:
Eat and drink everything at room temperature or warmer.
And yes—stop eating ice cream.
*Especially if you love it.*
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In my experience, many people with IBS crave cold foods and drinks—ice cream, iced water, cold smoothies. But here's what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) helps us understand: cravings for cold often point to internal heat conditions, which, paradoxically, may stem from the body being too cold in key areas.
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Even if you feel hot on the surface, place your hand on the small of your back. If it doesn’t feel warm, that’s a sign your core energy is low, and your digestive system needs warmth to function optimally. That’s why room temperature—or warmer—is essential for both food and drink.
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The Energetics of Food and Drink
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In TCM, food and drink have energetic properties, not just nutritional ones. Here are two quick examples:
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Peppermint tea – Cooling. Best avoided if you have IBS or a sensitive gut.
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Ginger tea – Warming. Helpful in moderation. You might also enjoy chai, which contains a balanced blend of warming spices without being overly heating.​
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Want to Go Deeper?
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I highly recommend Recipes for Self-Healing by Daverick Leggett (available on Amazon). It’s a brilliant guide to understanding the energetic nature of food, with codes and recipes to help you choose meals that warm, nourish, and heal your digestive system.
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How Shiatsu works
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Shiatsu is the hands-on element of my treatment, using gentle pressure on acupuncture points—similar to what acupuncture does with needles, but without puncturing the skin.
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What makes my approach powerful is the integration of:
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Chinese Medicine theory
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Digestive health and microbiome science
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Gut-brain connection
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The energetic and emotional patterns affecting your health
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If your IBS symptoms haven’t improved through food testing alone, this deeper understanding of your body—and how it’s functioning as a whole—could be the missing piece.
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By combining these insights with gentle, targeted Shiatsu, we begin to rebalance the vital organs that are often in distress when IBS is severe. This isn’t just symptom management—it’s real, foundational healing.
