Minute sphere acupressure does not reduce postoperative pain or morphine consumption

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Surgical Pain Management
• Acupuncture Research

Background:

• Minute sphere acupressure, an ancient practice, is utilized in Japan.
• Specific acupressure points are believed to influence abdominal meridian flows.
• Postoperative pain management remains a critical aspect of surgical recovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of minute sphere acupressure in reducing pain and analgesic needs after open abdominal surgery.
• To test the hypothesis that acupressure therapy alleviates postoperative pain and decreases opioid consumption.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving patients undergoing open abdominal surgery.
• Patients received standardized anesthesia and were assigned to either minute sphere acupressure or a control group.
• Postoperative pain was managed with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) using intravenous morphine.

Main Results:

• No significant differences were observed in morphine requirements between the control (47 mg) and acupressure (41 mg) groups.
• Postoperative pain scores were also similar between the control (29.5 mm) and acupressure (40 mm) groups.
• The study had 80% power to detect a 50% difference in morphine consumption at an alpha of 0.05.

Conclusions:

• Minute sphere acupressure at the Neiguan, Zusanli, Sanyinjiao, and Gongsun points did not provide effective analgesia after open abdominal surgery.
• The findings suggest that this specific acupressure protocol is not beneficial for managing pain in this patient population.
• Further research may be needed to explore other acupressure techniques or patient groups.