Acupressure Wristbands Work Against Radiation Nausea

Often a skeptic, I am always pleased to be able to report a positive result for a controlled study of a non-traditional form of treatment – acupuncture, hypnosis, medicinal herbs, etc. There are several reports of the effectiveness of acupressure in treating or preventing nausea in various conditions – post-operative, with chemotherapy, and so on. And many people swear by the wrist bands used for sea-sickness. The problem with “proving” the effectiveness of such a form of treatment is devising a study that takes into account the considerable placebo effect that such approaches carry. A new study of acupressure wristbands in reducing radiation-induced therapy takes this into account. It’s published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

University of Rochester Medical Center scientists conducted a study of acupressure wristbands in cancer patients who had previously experienced nausea while having radiation. They were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: no wristbands; wristbands plus neutral information; or wristbands plus positive information about the effectiveness of wristbands.

Both groups of patients wearing wristbands had a 24% reduction in nausea, compared with a 5% reduction in those with no wristbands. There was no difference between results for the two wristband-wearing groups (neutral vs. positive information). Clearly, patients’ expectations failed to influence the effectiveness of the wristbands; in other words, the study failed to detect a measurable placebo effect.

The P6 acupoint on the wrist has been used to prevent or treat nausea in Chinese medicine for thousands of years, and it’s encouraging that Western medicine is able to demonstrate a beneficial action without it being labeled a placebo effect. We need more studies of alternative/complimentary medicines that include this sort of design modification.