Nausea is a common side-effect of the radiation and chemotherapy treatments used to treat various types of cancer.
Recent studies suggest that acupressure, a variation of a form of traditional Chinese medicine, may help with that nausea.
There is an anti-nausea point on the inside of the arm, just above the bend of the wrist.
A common way to apply gentle pressure to this point is the use of an armband which holds a small plastic disk in place on top of the anti-nausea point.
These armband products, often used to relieve nausea due to motion sickness and sometimes used by pregnant women for treating morning sickness, have been tested in patients who were experiencing nausea as a result of cancer treatments, specifically radiation.
Patients who used the armbands had significantly less nausea than patients who were not using the armbands. This means that acupressure can be considered as an inexpensive and easy-to-use alternative for management of this common side-effect of cancer treatment.
In traditional Chinese medicine, energy or chi flows through the body along certain pathways called meridians. There are points along these meridians which when stimulated, either by pressure as in acupressure or by needles as in acupuncture, can produce certain effects.
In Chinese traditional medicine the stimulation of these points is said to unblock, stimulate or balance chi.
