Self-Administered Acupressure for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Pain Management
• Sleep Science

Background:

• Chronic low back pain (CLBP) significantly impacts quality of life, causing fatigue, pain, poor sleep, and disability.
• Acupressure is a low-risk intervention, but its effectiveness for CLBP symptoms, particularly fatigue and sleep, remains understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the preliminary effects of self-administered relaxing and stimulating acupressure on fatigue, pain, sleep, and disability in individuals with CLBP.

Main Methods:

• A randomized pilot trial involving 67 participants allocated to six weeks of relaxing acupressure, stimulating acupressure, or usual care.
• Standardized questionnaires assessed fatigue (Brief Fatigue Inventory), pain (Brief Pain Inventory), sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and disability (Roland Morris Scale).
• Intent-to-treat analysis using general linear models compared outcomes across groups.

Main Results:

• Acupressure interventions led to significant improvements in pain compared to usual care, with reductions of 35-36%.
• The stimulating acupressure group showed a notable improvement in fatigue levels compared to the usual care group.
• Adverse events were minimal, primarily related to excessive pressure application.

Conclusions:

• Self-administered acupressure shows promising preliminary efficacy in reducing pain and fatigue in patients with CLBP.
• Further research with larger sample sizes is warranted to confirm these findings and explore mechanisms of action.