Acupressure 指压

What it is

Acupressure uses the meridian map — the same points acupuncture needles — but the instrument is a thumb, a knuckle, or two fingers, pressed firmly for half a minute to a few minutes at a time^[1]. The tradition reads it as adjusting the flow of qi at the surface; the modern guess involves nerve stimulation and the same mechanisms studied in needling. Either way, it is the most democratic corner of the medicine: free, portable, and impossible to overdose.

What the evidence says

One point carries genuinely serious evidence: PC6 (Neiguan) on the inner wrist, whose stimulation for nausea has been through a Cochrane review across dozens of trials — reducing postoperative nausea and vomiting versus sham, with effectiveness comparable to antiemetic drugs^[2]. That's the crown jewel, detailed on the nausea page. Elsewhere the acupressure-specific evidence is thinner — small trials borrowing plausibility from acupuncture's chronic-pain literature^[3] — and this hall labels each point's file honestly.

How to press

Firm, comfortable pressure — enough to feel a dull ache, never sharp pain — held 30 seconds to 2 minutes while breathing slowly, repeated a few times a day as wanted. Circular kneading works as well as static pressure; use the tool that reaches (thumb, knuckle, the eraser end of a pencil for small points).

Where to be careful

• Pregnancy: tradition avoids strong stimulation of LI4 (Hegu) and SP6 (Sanyinjiao); pregnant readers should press conservatively and ask their practitioner^[1].
• Never press into wounds, rashes, varicose veins, or a limb with suspected clot; go gently on the very frail.
• Acupressure manages symptoms — it does not diagnose. Anything severe, sudden, or persistent belongs with a real clinician.

Reviewed 2026-08-26