Is Acupressure A Solution For Period Pain?
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Being common is not a testament to something being normal. Loads of things are very ordinary and commonplace, but if you look closely, you’ll see that they really shouldn’t be taken so lightly. For example, cramps during periods might be a fairly common occurrence, but if you ask medical experts, they’ll tell you it’s not normal to experience them in the first place. Even though stats say that around 80% of women experience pain when they are menstruating, while 20% experience pain that is severe enough to interfere with their daily activities (1)!
Dysmenorrhea is the medical term for period pain – those awful cramps that can disrupt your daily life to a great extent and even render you immobile and unable to do anything. In fact, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, one in every five women admitted that period pain interrupts with their regular life and makes it harder for them to carry on with day to day activities (2).
So, if it’s that prevalent, there should be cures in place for it, right? Although medical science has not made giant strides in the whole mechanism behind period pain, inroads have been made into how to deal with or treat it. Currently, there are specific medicines in the market that can help relieve period pain. However, they are not preferred by many women as they come with certain side effects, which can vary from worsening of the pain to sleepiness and more (3). This testifies to the fact that more research needs to be carried out in order to come up with suitable methods that can bring relief to the vast majority of women who suffer from this monthly pain.
In this regard, medical science has stumbled upon an unlikely cure for period pain. A recent study carried out by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin discovered that self-acupressure can greatly help in dealing with period pain. This study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (4).
According to the study, self-acupressure will prove to be extremely effective for women who fall into the age group of 18 and 34 years and suffer from menstrual cramps. The study stressed that self-acupressure is, in fact, more effective as compared to hormonal contraceptives and pain medication when it comes to treating menstrual cramps.
A total of 221 women participated in the study. Each one of them was arbitrarily assigned to either one of the two groups – one group followed their usual routine in dealing with period pain, while the other group was asked to administer self-acupressure prior to and during their periods with the help of an app.
The results of the study found out that acupressure is indeed useful in treating menstrual cramps as 37% of the women reported a 50% reduction in the intensity of their period pain after trying acupressure for a total of 3 months. Moreover, the women who were a part of the acupressure group also witnessed a reduction in the use of pain medication as well as in the intensity of pain experienced as compared to the other group.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Daniel Pach from the Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, said that the results in themselves were quite “surprising,” according to the statement released on the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin’s website (5)
He said that he did not expect that two-thirds of the women who participated in the study would go on using self-acupressure as a means to treat period pain. He also mentioned that as of yet, the efficacy of mobile apps in clinical trials has not been researched extensively and that their study proved that apps too can actually help in critical trials rather than simply relying on conventional methods.
While their research necessitates the use of an app, you don’t really need one if you want to try out some self-acupressure for period pain on your own. Loads of articles on the internet provide plenty of information on which acupressure points you should focus on in order to obtain relief from period pain. However, the number of pressure points prescribed in each article as well as their locations can vary. Sometimes even to a great extent. So, it’s best for you to consult with a professional acupuncturist before trying out this remedy on your own.
With that being said, the debate on whether acupressure will work for all sufferers of menstrual cramps or not is still on as the scope of the study was extremely small. This means that there’s no way you can be sure that self-acupressure will help ease the most difficult days of your month.
However, you have nothing to lose with acupressure, which makes it definitely worth a try if you’re looking for an inexpensive, side-effect-free, and natural method of dealing with period pain. If you want to try it, you can download the app that was a part of the study. It’s called Luna and can be downloaded via iTunes.
Stay healthy!
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