Gastritis means inflammation of the stomach. It means that white blood cells move into the wall of the stomach as a response to some type of injury. Gastritis does not mean that there is an ulcer or cancer. It is simply inflammation--either acute or chronic. The symptoms of gastritis depend on how acute it is and how long it has been present. In the acute phase, there may be pain or gnawing in the upper abdomen, nausea and vomiting.
In the chronic phase, the pain may be dull and there may be loss of appetite with a feeling of fullness after several bites of food. Very often, there are no symptoms at all. If the pain is severe, there may be an ulcer as well as gastritis. In TCM, this disease is included in the following categories : "epigastric pain", "food stagnation"and "vomiting". It is treated with herbs for regulating qi movement in the middle jiao, harmoning the stomach and restoring the reversed stomach qi.

Treatment
1. Tender spot
A point, located about 2 cun inferior to the middle point of the line between anterior superior iliac spine and posterior superior iliac spine, is punctured with a 3-3.5 cun filiform needle till the needle is reached the periosteum. Then the needle is slightly lifted up, and rotated, lifted and thrusted heavily. Remain  for  5 minutes, repeat the same manipulation three times and then withdraw the needle. It is suitable for acute gastritis.

2. Empirical point
The point is located in the junction of the red and white skin below the external malleolus which is used as moxibustion area with moxa stick for 10-15 minutes, two to three times a day. It is suitable for acute gastritis.

3. Stomach area of scalp acupuncture
Stomach area of the scalp points is punctured and remained for 30 minutes with mild rotating manipulation every 5-10 minutes.

Note
Acupuncture on single point is mainly used for symptomatic treatment. As for treatment of primary disease, it is better to treat disease based on syndrome differentiation, or with western and Chinese herbs.