Visualization analysis of research hotspots and trends in traditional Chinese medicine external therapies for irritable bowel syndrome

Objective To investigate the current status and future trends of research on external therapies in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome, and to provide a reference for further research in this field. Methods Relevant literature on the use of external therapies in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome was selected from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, the Web of Science database, and the PubMed database as the study subjects. CiteSpace was used to conduct a bibliometric analysis. Results After manually screening duplicate literature using CiteSpace software, a total of 782 English-language articles and 963 Chinese-language articles were included. Analysis of the English-language articles revealed that the core author was Wu,Huan-Gan, and the institution with the highest output was Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Analysis of the Chinese articles revealed that the core author was Sun Jianhua, and the institution with the highest output was Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; the overall publication volume showed an upward trend. Keyword analysis indicated that research hotspots in this field include acupuncture, acupoint thread implantation, and symptoms associated with IBS, while research trends focus on the mechanisms underlying the treatment of IBS with external TCM therapies, principles for acupoint selection, and moxibustion therapy. Conclusion The results of this study are consistent with the relevant literature on the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using external TCM therapies. By analyzing the research hotspots and trends in this field, this study highlights directions for further exploration and provides new directions and insights to guide clinical practice.