August 26, 2024

Acupressure can improve hemodialysis symptoms, study shows

A novel pilot study shows that acupressure can benefit hemodialysis patients, who reported better quality of life and a lower symptom burden after doing the alternative therapy for just four weeks.

Acupressure is an alternative form of ancient Chinese medicine, whereby firm manual pressure to certain areas of the body is believed to reduce energy blockages and restore imbalances. Evidence suggests that the technique can improve various symptoms such as sleep and pain, but it has not been formally studied in the context of people on hemodialysis. To investigate, staff from the dialysis program recruited 32 hemodialysis patients from two clinics in Alberta. Roughly half of the participants were randomly assigned to complete two, two-minute self-acupressure sessions a day for four weeks, while continuing their hemodialysis treatments, whereas the other half of the study participants continued on hemodialysis without practicing self-acupressure.

Those who did acupressure reported an overall, average improvement in all quality-of-life domains while their dialysis symptoms improved. Those not in the acupressure group reported an overall worsening of dialysis symptoms.   Eighty-seven percent of those in the treatment group reported they would continue self-acupressure for their symptom management, felt it was easy to do, and would recommend this to other hemodialysis patients. Although this study only involved a small group of participants, these initial results pave the way for larger studies exploring the role of acupressure in treating symptoms in people on hemodialysis, the authors note.