Effects of Auricular Acupressure on Pain Management: A Systematic Review

Nearly half of hospitalized patients in the United States have reported experiencing pain even while undergoing treatment for pain. Analgesic use is the most common type of treatment for pain management. Many patients who experience pain seek nonpharmacologic interventions to manage their pain, including forms of complementary or alternative medicine such as auricular acupressure (AA).

This study conducted the first systematic review of the studies that have evaluated the effect of AA as an adjunct on pain management.

We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Google Scholar, and Wiley for randomized controlled trials on AA.

The pain outcomes were pain severity and analgesic consumption. Methodologic quality was also evaluated. Fifteen randomized controlled trials were included in this analysis.

Twelve studies reported statistically significant improvement in the pain outcomes of AA treatment compared with the sham or standard care groups. When methodologic quality was assessed, the selected studies had medium quality, but there was a lack of high quality. This supports that the use of AA for patients may enhance self-management for their pain. However, the small number of studies and the lack of consistent rigorous methodology across the studies preclude definitive statements regarding the effectiveness of AA.

The nursing implications based on this review is that education about AA and complementary or alternative medicine therapies for health care providers may assist them in providing pain control for their patients. In addition, we need to continue research to build on evidence on the effect of AA on pain management.