BACKGROUND Previous reports have suggested that acupressure is effective in reducing pain and improving sleep quality; however, its effects on alertness have not been characterized. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to determine whether two different acupressure treatments have opposing effects on alertness in a full-day classroom setting. DESIGN This was a cross-over (two-treatments; th...

Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is one of the most common postoperative complications. Aside from pharmacological interventions, other complementary healing modalities have been introduced to assist patients in decreasing PONV and improving postoperative outcomes. This study examined acupressure as a safe complement to the more traditional approach of using drugs to prevent and/or reli...

Objectives. To evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure on the Taichong acupoint in lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive patients. Methods. Eighty patients with hypertension attending a cardiology outpatient department in central Taiwan were included in this randomized clinical trial. Acupressure was applied to the Taichong acupoint in the experimental group (n =...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of acupressure on Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) and to evaluate the difficulties of conducting a RP RCT. METHODS A pilot single center RCT of acupressure vs. targeted patient education was conducted for the treatment of RP. Patients with either primary (N = 15) or secondary (N = 8) RP were randomized in an 8-week stud...

BACKGROUND Pain originating from intramuscular (IM) injection should not be underestimated, because it can damage the nurse-patient relationship. This research aimed at answering two main questions, whether acupressure is effective on pain severity due to IM injection or not and whether pain severity in two groups is different or not. MATERIALS AND METHODS This research was performed in gover...

Acupuncture and acupressure are methods of traditional Chinese medicine that are used to balance a person?s life force, or qi (pronounced ?chee?). When a person?s qi is out of sync, it?s believed to cause illness or pain. While both acupuncture and acupressure are said to help increase flow through specific pathways in the body, there?s a pointed difference between these treatments. In acupunct...

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of acupuncture on urinary incontinence and to discuss why these acupoints were selected. Seven databases were searched for any randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the use of acupuncture or acupressure as a treatment for urinary incontinence, and the Cochrane risk of bias tool was utilized to evaluate the risk of bias in each stu...

We want to share our experience about acupuncture and acupressure in newborns as a treatment modality. Researches have shown that acupressure and acupuncture are effective for headaches, stress control or obesity. Our studies and experiences about acupressure and acupuncture use in newborns and adults suggest that alternative and complementary medicine could be a promising treatment modality to...

BACKGROUND Tobacco smoking is still a worldwide health risk. Current pharmacotherapies have at best, a success rate of no more than 50%. Auricular (ear) acupressure has been purported to be beneficial in achieving smoking cessation in some studies, while in others has been deemed insignificant. We hereby describe the protocol for a three-arm randomised controlled trial to examine the possible b...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of acupressure in terms of disability, pain scores, and functional status. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. SETTING Orthopaedic clinic in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS 129 patients with chronic low back pain. INTERVENTION Acupressure or physical therapy for one month. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Self administered Chinese versions of standard outc...