The Self-Acupressure-to-Overcome-Constipation Experiment

There is (people say) more than one way to skin a cat. So too are there multiple ways to overcome constipation. Here’s a newly documented way:

“Effect of Perineal Self-Acupressure on Constipation: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” Ryan Abbott, Ian Ayres [pictured below], Ed Hui, and Ka-Kit Hui, Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2014, pp. 1-6. (Thanks to investigator Toby Sommer for bringing this to our attention. The authors, at the University of California, Los Angeles and at Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, report :

“We aimed to evaluate whether perineal self-acupressure would improve patient reports of quality of life and bowel function at 4 weeks after training…. Among patients with constipation, perineal self-acupressure improves self-reported assessments of quality of life, bowel function, and health and well-being relative to providing standard constipation treatment options alone.”

Here’s further detail from the study:

Here’s an appreciative writeup in the Yale Alumni Magazine:

A law professor’s theory about relieving constipation is put to the test

By Carole Bass | Jan/Feb 2015

Some 20 years ago, Ian Ayres ’81, ’86JD, discovered a better way to poop. Recently, he decided to share it with the world. So the Yale law professor and an alumnus, Ryan Abbott ’11JD, collaborated on a constipation study. We’re relieved to report that it came out all right.

How did two law professors undertake a randomized, controlled medical trial and publish it in a scientific journal? It helps that one (Abbott, who teaches at Southwestern Law School) is also a physician and visiting assistant professor of medicine at the University of California–Los Angeles, where he conducted the study. It also helps that Ayres is, in his words, “committed to turning my annoyances into publications.…”