Acupressure for Women's General Health

Acupressure may benefit general health for women, according to a new study.

Acupressure works with the same body points and meridians as acupuncture, but stimulates the sites with finger pressure rather than by fine needles. Traditionally, acupressure is directed to 14 meridians and 2,000 specific charted points all over the body. Today, acupressure is used in the prevention and treatment of many illnesses of both mind and body. Currently, there are many human studies suggesting the effectiveness of wrist-point (P6) acupressure for treating nausea.

In a new study, researchers randomly assigned 85 students into an acupressure or sham pressure treatment group. The acupressure group focused on acupressure at the Sanyinjiao point (SP6). General health questionnaires were given before treatment and then again after the first and second months of treatment.

The researchers found that after treatment, general health improved for both the acupressure and sham groups. However, the authors noted that there were significantly greater improvements in the four domains of general health for the individuals in the acupressure group when compared to the sham group. General health improved further after the second month of treatment.

The authors concluded that acupressure may be beneficial for the improvement of general health in women. Although promising, further research is necessary.

For more information about acupressure, please visit Natural Standard's Health & Wellness Database.

Comments

[Jane]

I am a firm believer of acupressure. Some years back, I had quite a bad health with constant difficulty to get quality sleep at night. My friend, who is an acupuncturist, recommended me to try acupuncture to improve my general health. After one month of acupuncture, my health gradually improved, and I was able to get to sleep much better than before. Now, I constantly use acupressure as a means to maintain my good health. Just to share my experience.

[generic pharmacy]

Reading Natural Standard's databases on these topics have really opened my eyes. Luckily for me, I haven't really had any problems that would necessitate the use of acupuncture or acupressure but I have to say that I am more "open minded" about trying it.

[Anonymous]

I am a person who frequently experiences the “nauseous” feeling, and so therefore my uncle proposed I participate in an acupuncture technique such as mentioned in the blog. Specifically, he told me about the wrist point acupuncture technique which I was skeptical about initially but figured I’d give it a try. I felt some form of alleviation but I was unable to differentiate whether this may have been a placebo effect or it was actually working!

[Shannon]

Like Valerie said, we had the opportunity of going to an acupuncture site visit yesterday. The acupuncturist showed us the needles used during acupuncture and they are actually very flexible and thin. She informed us that they only slightly penetrate the skin as the small one might be inserted only 1/18 of an inch or so. Also, we were informed that the needles are not inserted into any blood vessels and bleeding is rare. It was very interesting and seemed less painful than what I had originally thought. We were, also, able to learn about acupressure. She said that acupressurists might use their fingers, the balls of their hands/fists, or even their feet. The type of acupressure practiced specifically at this site is shiatsu, which is a Japanese form of massage therapy. After our site visit, I am even more interested to see what, if any, added benefits acupressure can provide to women.

[Stephen]

I'll be honest; I never gave much thought on therapies like this until I started studying how well they can work. Reading Natural Standard's databases on these topics have really opened my eyes. Luckily for me, I haven't really had any problems that would necessitate the use of acupuncture or acupressure but I have to say that I am more "open minded" about trying it. It's nice to be able to go to a site like Natural Standard and read about the scientific research.

[Valerie]

Yesterday, a few of us had the opportunity to visit a site that performs both acupressure and acupuncture. I was interested to learn that both of these techniques have been used to improve many health conditions, including symptoms of HIV/AIDs. In fact, the site that we visited first opened during the AIDs epidemic in the late 1980s, specializing in this treatment. Due to my dislike of needles, I definitely agree with Shannon that acupressure seems like a much more pleasant alternative to acupuncture. I am interested to see more research done on the benefits of acupressure, especially in women’s health.

[Daniel]

I have received acupressure therapy from a zen shiatsu massage guru. I was in a car accident last summer and was hit from the right side, so naturally the muscles on the left side of my back were in a constant state of contraction. I feel like acupressure helped me recover. Regardless, it felt awesome!

[Julie]

I've heard that acupuncture can be a very effective therapy, but always wondered whether I could go through it as I'm not too fond of needles. Acupressure sounds like an equally effective therapy and - bonus! - relies on finger pressure instead. It seems that there is good scientific evidence that acupressure can relieve pain, in addition to nausea and anxiety. On the other hand, acupuncture has an evidence grade of A for relieving pain, particularly pain due to having had an operation. I hope to see more research done on acupressure, as this seems to be a very interesting and potentially effective alternative treatment!

[Shannon]

I would take acupressure over acupuncture any day. Just the idea of acupressure relaxes me as compared to acupuncture. Acupressure has an evidence grade of B (good scientific evidence) for anxiety and pain and has an evidence grade of A (strong scientific evidence) for the treatment of nausea. This ideology is already expressed in alternative therapies like Sea Bands®, which provide pressure at the wrist-points to help treat nausea. Acupressure is considered a safe alternative therapy with very few interactions. Therefore, I am interested in seeing future research done on acupressure for anxiety and pain especially since these are such common conditions. Also, I agree with Amber that if you improve someone’s anxiety, then their overall health will improve, and I think the same can be said for an individual’s pain. I just wonder why the authors’ conclusion was that acupressure would be beneficial to women’s health specifically. I couldn’t obtain the full article so I wonder if the students were all female. However, it does state in the abstract that the subjects were randomly selected, which makes me question as to whether this conclusion was justified. With that said, I wonder if a secondary analysis was completed and looked specifically at females, or if the idea was just for a focus of future studies looking at the benefit of acupressure on women’s health.

[Frances]

I’m not very familiar with acupressure other than using the acupressure wristbands for nausea. I wonder why the sanyinjiao point was used. While doing more research, I found that it is used for gynecological, fertility, digestive, and urinary disorders. It is a point where the spleen, liver and kidney meet. There are studies involving this point on dysmenorrhea and labor pain. I wonder if the true reason there was an improvement in women’s general health is due to the fact that it relieved menstrual pain.

[Amber]

I would be interested to see if the benefit was mostly just "well-being" or reduced anxiety in the female patients, as it is given a grade of B for anxiety in general. The reduced anxiety could lead to other well being benefits as well. It's great that acupressure has few interactions with medications and few adverse effects. I am interested in seeing more research done on its benefits!