Medicina Alternativa e Integrativa

Brief Report: Is Acupressure an Effective Treatment of Lower Back Pain? A Narrative Review

Abstract

Vimal Patel and Shaun Holt

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi, the life force, is said to have impeded or abnormal flow through the body when disease is present. Restoration of Qi flow is said to regain balance between Yin, Yang and Qi, resulting in the restoration of normal health. A number of therapies have evolved which attempt to restore the normal function of meridians, the channels in the body within which Qi flows. The best known is acupuncture which involves the insertion of needles into pressure points along blocked or affected meridians to restore Qi flow. Acupressure is believed by its advocates to achieve the same goal by applying pressure instead of needles.