Many cancer patients swear by acupressure wristbands as a way to ward off treatment-related nausea. Most doctors have assumed the bands work because of the placebo effect. No longer.

In a clever experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center, 88 cancer patients with nausea were divided into three groups. One group served as controls. Volunteers in the other two groups were given acupressure wristbands. One of the wristband groups was given a handout with information telling patients that the wristbands have been shown to be very effective at reducing nausea. The other wristband group received a handout with much more neutral information.

The control group patients experienced only a 4.8 percent decrease in nausea, compared to a 23.8 percent reduction in the two wristband groups. Tellingly, no difference was found between the two groups that received handouts. “In this study, we attempted to manipulate the information we gave to patients, to see if their expectations about nausea could be changed. As it turned out, our information to change people’s expectations had no effect– but we still found that the wristbands reduce nausea symptoms,” said Joseph A. Rosoe, PhD, one of the authors of the study, who is a research associate professor at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC.

The benefits, in other words, did not appear to be linked to the placebo effect.

Proponents of acupuncture won’t be surprised. For centuries the wrist has been identified as an acupuncture point associated with nausea. By stimulating the point, acupuncture practitioners say, they can unblock fhe flow of universal energy known as chi.  If you’re a cancer patient suffering nausea, wristbands are well worth a try.

Tags: acupressure, acupuncture, nausea, wristbands