Acupressure for Angina Safer and Similar Effect to Nitroglycerin Tablets

Acupressure is often used as a self-help/home remedy as it is generally reliable and easy to apply for certain types of conditions.  Researchers from the Cardiology Department at the Qian'an TCM Hospital in Qian'an China recently conducted a study evaluating the effectiveness of acupressure for angina (chest pain) compared with both standard western medical pills and standard chinese medicine herbal formulas. 

Researchers recruited 168 patients with angina pectoris (AP) due to coronary heart diesease (CHD) and randomly divided them into an acupressure group (n=58), a chinese herbal formula group - suxiaojiuxin pills (n=54) and a nitroglycerin group (n=56).  The acupressure group used treatment at CV 17 for 5-10 minutes, the western medicine and the chinese medicine groups were administered sublingually.  Researchers used symptomatic improvements, ECG, and any adverse effects as measures.  The total effective rate was 93.1% for the acupressure group, 92.9% in the nitroglycerin group and 87% in the chinese herbal medicine group.  The average time producing the effect was approximately 2-3 minutes.  No side effects were noted in the acupressure group, the nitroglycerin group had 19 cases of side effects and the chinese herbal group had 12.

Researchers concluded that acupressure at CV 17 provides a similar therapeutic effect to nitroglycerin and chinese herbal medicine but with a more rapid onset in the reduction of symptoms and no side effects.