Topic: Acupressure for cancer symptom relief

RELEVANCE

Most relevant for: People diagnosed with cancer.

Relevance: High

Research Timeline: Post Approval

What is this topic about?

This XRAY review covers a Chinese medical technique called acupressure to relieve common cancer symptoms. It describes acupressure, discusses how it might be used by people with cancer, and provides information on where you can learn more.

Why is this topic important?

Cancer treatment can cause side effects such as fatigue and nausea. These symptoms can affect how you feel mentally and physically and your ability to work or enjoy life. People with cancer often look for ways to manage these side effects without taking additional medication. Acupressure is low- or no-cost and does not involve medicine or shots. With training, a person can do acupressure on their own.

What is acupressure?

Acupressure is an ancient Chinese approach to treating pain and other illnesses. It involves applying pressure to specific points on the body, usually for three minutes. Acupressure can be done by someone else or by yourself (self-acupressure).

The points on your body where pressure is applied are called acupoints. Acupuncture stimulates the same points with needles. Acupoints have Chinese names or are identified by numbers, words and letters. The body has over 350 acupoints, and choosing the right point for the symptom is important. Multiple points around the ears are used for acupressure. Examples of other common acupoints include:

• Yin Tang: On the forehead between the eyebrows
• Heart 7: On the inside wrist, right under the pinky finger
• GV20: In the middle of the top of the head, halfway between the ears
• Large intestine 4: Between the thumb and index finger on the hand

What does the research say?

Research on acupressure is mixed, in part because it is hard to study. People may not use acupressure in the same way for the same length of time. Some studies have been small or have not used the best research methods. Other studies combine acupressure with acupuncture. Despite this, the evidence suggests that acupressure can work for some people to help relieve nausea and fatigue. It is also being studied for pain and depression related to cancer.

Examples of recent findings include:

• A randomized control trial of self-administered acupressure for breast cancer looked at relaxing acupressure and stimulating acupressure to help with fatigue and sleep and improve quality of life. The two kinds of acupressure use different points on the body. Both approaches helped to reduce fatigue. Relaxing acupressure also improved sleep-related quality of life.
• A small randomized control trial of people with breast cancer found that acupressure on points around the ears helped nausea better than standard care. The study compared real acupressure, sham acupressure (using fake acupoints) and standard treatment. People who received sham acupressure also did better than people in the standard treatment group, suggesting a placebo effect.
• A small study in Turkey found that acupressure relieved cancer-related fatigue among older adults with cancer.
• A review of 11 mostly smaller studies of self-acupressure found that self-acupressure helped with nausea and vomiting. The authors were unable to draw conclusions about other symptoms due to the size or quality of the studies involved.
• A 2018 review of 11 studies of acupressure for fatigue found that acupressure improved fatigue in people with cancer.
• A recent small study found that an app called EnergyPoints may help people with cancer use acupressure for sleep issues. People who participated in the study found it user-friendly. The next step is a larger study of people from a wider geographic area.
• A small study looking at training nurses to provide acupressure to their patients showed beneficial results. Participants saw improved pain, fatigue, sleep and a reduced need for medication. A larger study is planned.