If you've ever relieved a pounding headache by pinching the bridge of your nose or pressing a knuckle against your temples, you're already familiar with the way acupressure works. Acupressure involves pressing parts of the body far away from what hurts or feels strained in order to relieve the pain. Fortunately for the needle-wary, unlike acupuncture there are no needles involved.

Practitioners have used acupressure for thousands of years in China and Japan to heal body aches and pains. Although research is limited and the results are mixed, today there is scientific data to show acupressure relieves nausea and vomiting, pain from headaches and back pain, and arthritis in some patients.

For thousands of years, healers in China believed that you became sick when your flow of energy, called chi, was blocked or damaged in some way. Think of these energy channels, called meridians, as a freeway system. According to this theory, pressure points are located up and down your body like interchanges along the highway. Having a blocked channel is like experiencing a pileup. Without the ability to pass, energy stops, and this inertia makes you tired, ill, and prone to disease.

"I tell patients (meridians) are the pathways that carry your energies along in the same way that blood vessels carry blood to your heart," says Lindy Ferrigno, a certified instructor of the American Organization for Bodywork Therapies of Asia who served for eight years on Oregon's state board of massage.

Early practitioners used herbs, massage, exercise, and breathing techniques to unclog the congested chi. They believed that unclogging these channels through acupressure enhanced blood flow through the body, enabling you to heal naturally.

Japanese practitioners later adopted acupressure into a massage known as shiatsuthat emphasizes rubbing pressure points. But many other alternative medical practices incorporate acupressure: Acu-yoga uses the weight of your body to apply pressure on certain points, and do-in involves stretching and breathing exercises.

There are 365 pressure points on your body, and 14 major channels, according to practitioners. Many of the points that control chi flow, for example, are clustered together around your eyes and cheeks, and others run along the sides of your torso and down your arms and legs.

Practitioners often rub or tap pressure points to heal a part of the body located far away from the area that hurts. For example, an eye problem can be healed by squeezing different points on the feet and hands, according to traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Bill Prange. Practitioners use different parts of their hands, including their thumbs, fingers, palms, and knuckles, to apply pressure. The type of touch is an important element. They can squeeze one point from a few seconds to several minutes, and it can range from quick tapping to a more vigorous rubbing. To reduce nausea, for example, practitioners suggest pressing a spot on the inside of your wrist with steady and firm pressure.

Researchers have found that this pressure encourages your body to produce and release endorphins, your body's natural painkillers. Endorphins not only keep the pain at bay, they are also natural "feel-good" chemicals that leave you with a sense of well-being .

One study showed show acupressure has been useful in treating vomiting and nausea among children after eye surgery. Another study found decreased nausea in mothers giving birth via cesarean section.

One of the beauties of acupressure is that with only a little training, you can give yourself the treatments. However, massage therapists and alternative medicine practitioners can point you to networks that specialize in acupressure. Remember, acupressure may be a little rough, but it shouldn't be painful.

Ferrigno says she gets many requests from patients who want acupressure to relieve AIDS symptoms, depression and to treat their children's stress. She says that one 8-year-old boy who was diagnosed as hyperactive is calmer after Ferrigno applied pressure on his chest and back. "He goes for longer periods of time being less hyperactive," she says.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a medical exam for any chronic problems, including pain, and discuss what kind of treatment you're getting with a physician. Your doctor may want you to receive more traditional care if you're pregnant or for a serious condition.

-- Psyche Pascual is a former staff writer at the Los Angeles Times and the executive editor at Consumer Health Interactive.

References

Copyright © 2005 Consumer Health Interactive

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