Simple Acupressure Points Reduce Post Operative Pain and Nausea

Acupressure is often used for a wide range of mild to moderate conditions. One point that is often recommended is on the wrist and is often used for nausea - PC 6. Another point on the leg is used for digestive issues, strength and stamina and more - ST 36. Both of these points have been discussed in many studies before and have hundreds of years of clinical use backing them up.

A recent study from Taiwan published in the Complementary Therapies in Medicine journal, looked specifically at these two points and the effect on post-operative pain for gastric cancer patients.

Following gastric surgery pain, nausea and vomiting is common. The researchers here recruited 60 patients from a surgery center in Taiwan and randomnly assigned them to a control group and an acupressure group. Treatment was offered 3 days in a row, so this was only looking at immediate results in a post-operative setting.

They found significant results from the acupressure group in pain and nausea/vomiting scores and concluded that "acupressure is a simple, noninvasive, safe, and economical procedure for improving the comfort of patients who undergo surgery for gastric cancer. Acupressure at the P6 and ST36 acupoints can improve postoperative comfort by alleviating pain and decreasing the time until first flatus."

Longer term studies should be done with more follow-up treatment to see if there are differences in healing speed and bowel function at the 3 month, 6 month and 1 year marks.