Upper abdominal pain that gnaws, burns or grips — worse on an empty stomach for some, worse after eating for others — is one of the oldest complaints in Chinese medicine, and one of its best-mapped.
Heat, cold and stagnation in the stomach
The classical texts separate stomach pain by what changes it. Pain relieved by warmth and pressure, worse with cold food, points to cold in the Stomach. Burning pain with thirst, bad breath and constipation suggests Stomach heat. Pain that moves, flares with frustration and comes with sighing and belching is Liver qi invading the Stomach — the stress pattern. Fixed, stabbing pain in one spot suggests blood stasis and warrants closer attention. And a dull, empty ache in someone who feels better after eating is deficiency.
The Systematic Classic divides the stomach into three sections and gives each its own presentation. Cold in the centre with damage from gluttony — food and drink failing to transform, distention and stuffy fullness through the epigastrium, chest and flanks — is ruled by Upper Venter (Shang Wan, CV-13). Distention and blockage with that same cold centre and food damage is ruled by Central Venter (Zhong Wan, CV-12), which is also the ruling point for stomach distention. Food and drink failing to transform with reflux upward is ruled by Lower Venter (Xia Wan, CV-10). Two things carry over: the epigastrium is read as a region with an upper, middle and lower part rather than a single sore spot, and overeating is named as a cause in its own right.
Building a plan for a settled stomach
Points on the abdomen, forearm and lower leg form the backbone of treatment, with moxibustion added where the pattern is cold and deficient — a presentation that responds noticeably to warmth. Chinese herbal medicine has an extensive repertoire for stomach pain and is often where the substantial change comes from. Alongside that we look hard at eating patterns, because timing, temperature and pace affect gastritis at least as much as food choice.
How strong is the evidence in dyspepsia?
The research base for this specific condition is limited — small trials, mixed quality. Treatment here rests on pattern-based clinical reasoning and long traditional use, offered as supportive care alongside your medical management rather than on the basis of established effect. What we can point to is a long clinical tradition of treating this pattern, coordinated with whatever your GP has in place — and an insistence that Helicobacter pylori testing and, where indicated, endoscopy come from the medical side before anyone settles into treating symptoms.
How we approach stomach pain here
Most upper-abdominal pain we see at Balmoral and Alexandra Hills has already been through a GP, and often a gastroscope. That is how it should be. What people bring us is the residue: a stomach that stays reactive after the medical work-up is clear or the ulcer has healed. Treatment aims at that reactivity, at the stress physiology feeding it, and at the eating habits that keep provoking it.
Eating for an irritable stomach
Eat at regular times — an unpredictable stomach does badly with unpredictable meals. Smaller portions, eaten slowly, ask less of it. Notice the classic aggravators honestly: alcohol, coffee, very spicy or very fatty meals, and anti-inflammatory painkillers, which irritate the stomach lining directly and are worth discussing with your pharmacist. Eating late and lying down soon after gives symptoms all night to build. Warm food suits cold-pattern stomachs better than cold, raw meals.
Stomach pain that needs investigating
Vomiting blood or material like coffee grounds, black tarry stools, severe or sudden pain, unexplained weight loss, difficulty swallowing, or persistent vomiting are emergency or urgent-referral signs — not something to work through with treatment. New upper-abdominal pain after 50 deserves prompt medical assessment. Chest pain that could be cardiac is treated as cardiac until proven otherwise.
Individual responses vary, and assessment determines whether this approach suits your situation. Call (07) 3820 2887 or book online at our Balmoral or Alexandra Hills clinics.
Stomach pain questions we hear often
Can I have treatment while I am taking a proton pump inhibitor?
Yes. Acid-suppressing medication continues exactly as your GP directs, and our herbal prescribing takes your full medication list into account. Any change to a prescription is a conversation for you and your doctor.
Should I be tested for Helicobacter pylori first?
If you have not been, we will ask you to raise it with your GP. It is a treatable bacterial cause of gastritis and ulcers, and finding it changes the whole picture. We work alongside that treatment, not instead of it.
Why do you ask about stress for a stomach problem?
Because the gut is exquisitely sensitive to it, and Chinese medicine has described the stress-stomach connection for centuries as Liver qi invading the Stomach. If your pain tracks your workload, that pattern is treatable.
References
- Li XX, Hu ZY, et al. Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for functional dyspepsia: an updated meta-analysis. Frontiers in Medicine. 2026. doi:10.3389/fmed.2026.1718632 (functional dyspepsia — closely related to, but not the same as, gastritis)
- Huangfu Mi. The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing), c. 259 CE. Translated by Yang Shou-zhong and Charles Chace. Boulder: Blue Poppy Press, 1994.
Written and clinically reviewed by Dr Francesco Pennisi
Registered Acupuncturist, Chinese Herbalist & Chinese Medicine Practitioner · Chinese Medicine Board of Australia (AHPRA) · AACMA Member
Dr Francesco brings more than 30 years of clinical experience to Results Acupuncture’s Balmoral and Alexandra Hills clinics, combining acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine and related therapies.
