Better Than Sedatives: Acupressure Calms Children Before Surgery

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Better Than Sedatives: Acupressure Calms Children Before Surgery

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/123957.php

An acupressure treatment applied to children undergoing anesthesia

noticeably lowers their anxiety levels and makes the stress of

surgery more calming for them and their families, UC Irvine

anesthesiologists have learned.

According to Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology and perioperative care

chair, and his Yale University collaborator Dr. Shu-Ming Wang, this

noninvasive, drug-free method is an effective, complementary anxiety-

relief therapy for children during surgical preparation. Sedatives

currently used before anesthesia can cause nausea and prolong

sedation.

" Anxiety in children before surgery is bad because of the emotional

toll on the child and parents, and this anxiety can lead to prolonged

recovery and the increased use of analgesics for postoperative pain, "

said Kain, who led the acupressure study. " What's great about the use

of acupressure is that it costs very little and has no side effects. "

In this study, Kain and his Yale colleagues applied adhesive

acupressure beads to 52 children between the ages of 8 and 17 who

were to undergo endoscopic stomach surgery. In half the children, a

bead was applied to the Extra-1 acupoint, which is located in the

midpoint between the eyebrows. In the other half, the bead was

applied to a spot above the left eyebrow that has no reported

clinical effects.

Thirty minutes later, the researchers noted decreased anxiety levels

in the children who had the beads applied to the Extra-1 acupoint. In

turn, anxiety levels increased in the other group. Overall, they

found the use of acupressure had no effect on the surgical procedure.

" As anesthesiologists, we need to look at all therapeutic

opportunities to make the surgical process less stressful for all

patients, " Kain said. " We can't assume that Western medical

approaches are the only viable ones, and we have an obligation to

look at integrative treatments like acupressure as a way to improve

the surgery experience. "

Surgery is traumatic for most children, and Kain leads research to

find integrative methods, such as soothing music, massage, and

Chinese acupuncture and acupressure treatments, to make the surgical

period more calming for patients and their families.