St36 aka stomach 36 in acupuncture lingo is the 36th point on the stomach meridian and it is approximately 4 fingers below the knee cap just lateral to the shin bone. From TCM(Traditional Chinese Medicine) theory, this point is known to “tonify qi and blood” which promotes healthy digestion functioning. Now, Qi has many definitions in TCM depending on the context. Besides referring to energy, qi also refers to oxygen and blood flow. So, when an acupuncture point is being stimulated, this is actually increasing oxygenation and blood flow to a particular part of the body. When blood flow and oxygenation is promoted, this supports healing. But do we have any scientific validation of the physiological effect of this acupuncture point? We can look at this study by Watanabe et all to find out. In this study, the authors were able to show that when St36 acupuncture point was stimulated in human volunteers, this elicited increase blood flow volume to the SMA(superior messenteric artery). What is the function of SMA? This is an artery that supplies oxygenated blood and nutrients to the small intestines and pancreas which are crucial for digestion.
So, this is a nice study that validates ancient wisdom with modern science.