Summary

• Acupressure is used around world for relaxation, wellness promotion and the treatment of many health problems. Many traditional Asian medical philosophies consider health to be a state of balance in the body that is maintained by the flow of life energy along specific meridians. A disease is believed to occur when energy flow is too low, too high or blocked. Acupressure aims to restore normal life energy flow using finger and palm pressure, stretching, massaging, and other bodywork techniques. During acupressure finger pressure is applied to specific acupoints on the body. It is believed that there are 12 primary channels and eight additional pathways circulating life energy throughout the body, maintaining the balance of yin and yang.

Uses These uses have been tested in humans or animals. Safety and effectiveness have not always been proven. Some of these conditions are potentially serious, and should be evaluated by a qualified healthcare provider.	Grade*
Nausea	A
Anxiety	B
Pain (general)	B
Agitated behavior (in dementia)	C
Alertness	C
Asthma (quality of life)	C
Bed-wetting (children)	C
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)	C
Depression	C
Drug addiction	C
Dyspnea (shortness of breath)	C
Epilepsy (children)	C
Exercise performance	C
Facial spasm	C
Gastrointestinal motility (digestion)	C
Headache	C
High blood pressure	C
Pain (labor, low back, menstrual, postoperative)	C
Palliative care	C
Parkinson's disease	C
Sexual dysfunction	C
Sleep apnea	C
Sleep quality	C
Smoking cessation	C
Stroke	C
Cervical spondylosis	D
Weight loss/obesity	D

Technique

• Acupressure may work like other techniques, such as acupuncture (stimulation of acupoints with needles), moxa (burning with a stick including dried mugwort leaves) or other forms of manual stimulation. Acupressure techniques that involve soft tissue manipulation may have similar effects on the body as therapeutic massage.
• Shiatsu means finger (Shi) pressure (Atsu) in Japanese. Shiatsu technique involves finger pressure at acupoints and along body meridians. It can incorporate palm pressure, stretching, massaging and other manual techniques. Shiatsu practitioners commonly treat musculoskeletal and psychological conditions, including neck/shoulder and lower back problems, arthritis, depression, and anxiety. Tuina (Chinese for "pushing and pulling") is similar to shiatsu but with more soft tissue manipulation and structural realignment. Tuina is a common form of Asian bodywork used in Chinese-American communities.

Safety

• With proper training, acupressure appears to be safe if self-administered or administered by an experienced therapist. No serious long-term complications have been reported, according to scientific data. Hand nerve injury and herpes zoster ("shingles"), carotid dissection, and retinal and cerebral artery embolism, cases have been reported after shiatsu massage. Forceful acupressure may cause bruising.