Biological Correlates of the Effects of Auricular Point Acupressure on Pain.
Chao Hsing Yeh, Nada Lukkahatai, Xinran Huang and 5 others
PMID 36543665WHAT IT FOUND
Pain and daily-function interference scores fell after four weeks of ear acupressure in 96 patients across three small chronic-pain studies.
The work is exploratory and does not prove ear acupressure itself caused relief.
Key findings
01Pain intensity and pain interference scores decreased from pre-intervention to post-intervention, except TNF-α increased and IL-4 did not change in the back pain APA group.
02Within-subject analyses found significant biomarker changes in TNF-α in cancer pain targeted APA (p=0.03), β-endorphin in low back pain targeted APA (p=0.04), and IL-2 in low back pain non-targeted APA (p=0.002).
03In the low back pain targeted versus non-targeted comparison, IL-4 had the largest between-group effect size (0.35), followed by TNF-α (0.29), and multiple testing was not adjusted.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis combined data from different chronic pain conditions, so results may not apply to any one condition. The cancer pain data had no non-targeted comparison group, so changes cannot be separated from time or other factors. Only pre- and post-intervention data were included, so there was no long-term follow-up. Multiple biomarker tests were not adjusted, so false-positive findings are more likely. Cytokine levels have short half-lives, and circadian rhythm, acute illness, medication, nutrition, and immune/endocrine/metabolic disease information were not available. The studies were small pilot datasets, and the paper does not establish efficacy.
Declared interests
The article is tagged as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support; no company sponsor is named.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that targeted ear acupressure caused the pain-score reductions. The cancer pain data had no non-targeted comparison, the multiple biomarker tests were not adjusted, and the analysis is a secondary report of small pilot studies.