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The Claim: Applying pressure to a dime-sized spot located between the thumb and forefinger can calm anxiety and pain, particularly headaches and dental pain. Acupuncturists treat this spot, called hegu, with needles, but a small device can put pressure on it as well.
The Verdict: Of the more than 300 Chinese acupuncture points, hegu in clinical practice seems to be one of the most useful—particularly for pain relief, doctors say. Hegu hasn't been sufficiently studied to prove conclusively it alleviates pain, but one well-designed study found it blunted the worst pain experienced during a medical procedure.
It isn't known exactly how hegu works, says John C. Reed, director of inpatient services at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. A recent human study found treating it with acupuncture needles increases blood flow to the face, an area where acupuncturists say it is likely to relieve pain. Other research suggests hegu may work by stimulating endorphins, proteins that are natural pain relievers, he adds.
A 2011 study by researchers at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, examined the effect of pressing on the hegu point in cancer patients undergoing a procedure called bone-marrow aspiration, which can cause excruciating pain. The study found no difference in average pain levels in patients treated with pressure applied with a device on the hegu point to the same amount of pressure on a point a couple inches away on the top of the hand, which has no known benefit. But it did find that the proportion of patients with severe pain decreased in the hegu group.
That suggests that hegu, pronounced her-goo in Mandarin Chinese, "takes the edge" off the worst pain, says study author Ting Bao, an oncologist and medical acupuncturist at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore.
Read more here:
Acupuncture's Hegu Point: Can You Relieve Pain With a Squeeze to the Hand? - WSJ.com
The Verdict: Of the more than 300 Chinese acupuncture points, hegu in clinical practice seems to be one of the most useful—particularly for pain relief, doctors say. Hegu hasn't been sufficiently studied to prove conclusively it alleviates pain, but one well-designed study found it blunted the worst pain experienced during a medical procedure.
It isn't known exactly how hegu works, says John C. Reed, director of inpatient services at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. A recent human study found treating it with acupuncture needles increases blood flow to the face, an area where acupuncturists say it is likely to relieve pain. Other research suggests hegu may work by stimulating endorphins, proteins that are natural pain relievers, he adds.
A 2011 study by researchers at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, examined the effect of pressing on the hegu point in cancer patients undergoing a procedure called bone-marrow aspiration, which can cause excruciating pain. The study found no difference in average pain levels in patients treated with pressure applied with a device on the hegu point to the same amount of pressure on a point a couple inches away on the top of the hand, which has no known benefit. But it did find that the proportion of patients with severe pain decreased in the hegu group.
That suggests that hegu, pronounced her-goo in Mandarin Chinese, "takes the edge" off the worst pain, says study author Ting Bao, an oncologist and medical acupuncturist at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center in Baltimore.
Read more here:
Acupuncture's Hegu Point: Can You Relieve Pain With a Squeeze to the Hand? - WSJ.com
