Positive Health Online

Abstract

WERNTOFT and DYKES, Department of Nursing, Unit of Caring Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, elisabet.werntoft@omv.lu.se, investigated the potential of acupressure to relieve nausea and vomiting in normal healthy pregnant women.

Background

Methodology

This randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study included 60 healthy women with a normal pregnancy and experiencing nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). The women were assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: 1) acupressure (at the Neiguan point, P6), 2) placebo (acupressure at a placebo point), or 3) control (no treatment).

Results

In women receiving acupressure, NVP was significantly reduced compared with women receiving placebo or no treatment. At Day 1 after the start of treatment, relief from NVP occurred in both the acupressure and the placebo groups; relief lasted only for 6 days in the placebo group, but was still apparent after 14 days in the acupressure group.

Conclusion

The results indicate that it is possible to significantly reduce NVP in healthy women with a normal pregnancy by applying acupressure at P6.

References

Werntoft E, Dykes AK. Effect of acupressure on nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. A randomized, placebo-controlled, pilot study. The Journal of Reproductive Medicine 46 (9): 835-9. Sep 2001.