Acupressure in EMS... does it have a place?

[John]

I wrote an article...what do you think? Would you use acupressure in EMS?

"When it comes to pain control, the first thing many emergency response personnel reach for is the drug bag. Now after a randomized, double-blind study acupressure may be the first technique used to comfort the patient in the prehospital setting."

Visit the full article HEREAcupressure in EMS

[spenac]

I would be all for using anything that makes my patients feel better. I am a very hands on medic. I feel it is important to look, listen, and feel. If this added method comforts my patients I am all for it.

Also as a person with multiple chemical sensitivity, I am a firm believer in avoiding introducing chemicals into the body if there is an equally effective natural method to use. Why risk the complications that can come from chemicals when just a little more hands on can help just as well or even better?

So how do we get started?

[VentMedic]

Acupressure and acupuncture are accepted in many hosptials now. Some alternative therapies have their own departments or employees in the hospitals. We also have a couple of acupressure schools that use our patients for training although it is usually in the less acute areas such as the phyical rehab areas. Although, families have gotten permission to bring in alternative therapists into the ICUs on many occasions.

When we were at a loss as to what to do for a couple of co-workers diagnosed with cancer, we sent them acupunturists/acupressure thereapists to help them between their radiation and chemo treatments. Massage therapy can not be always used on patients that are "toxic" with various meds or chemicals but these alternatives are usually welcomed.

In Florida, the Acupuncture Practitioner and Massage Therapist are both licensed by the same board that licenses all the other health care professions.

http://www6.miami.edu/touch-research/about.htm

The University of Miami has the Touch Reseach Institute which has done amazing work with infants, HIV/AIDs, cancer and many other patients in the past couple of decades. I'm sure they are also working in some aspect with the trauma patients at the Ryder Trauma center with is a 4 story state of the art free-standing facility dedicated to trauma at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

[john_boston]

I'm going to have to disagree with most of you.

While traditional Chinese medicine predates the advent of western medicine, I would say acupressure, acupuncture, and related practices have not yet met the criteria of modern science.

Where research has shown demonstrable effects of such therapies, the evidence for their efficacy is interesting but inconclusive at best, mystical psuedo-science at the very worst. Hospitals that devote resources to these therapies -- if in fact they exist -- are likely doing so to appease a loud minority championing "alternative medicine" out of a desire to be politically correct (such as some British hospitals promoting the completely bogus charade that is homeopathy).

That's not to say that these therapies are of no value -- they simply have not yet been proven beyond a shadow of doubt to incur any huge medicinal benefit. I imagine acupressure, Ayurveda, homeopathy, and other "alternative medicine" would be of about as much use to saving the life of a patient experiencing an intracerebral hemorrhage as reciting the Lord's Prayer to them. You might believe it to be deeply meaningful but that's not going to stop the bleeding. What benefits acupressure does, in fact, bestow must be backed up with a lot more research, experimentation, and evidence before it can be incorporated into the arsenal of modern medicine, especially in EMS where the emphasis is so often on practical and immediate solutions to life-threatening problems.

Here's a link to an interesting article on acupuncture and it's possible scientific promise: "Acupuncture, Magic, and Make-Believe", Skeptical Inquirer, March 2003.

[Eydawn]

Ah, a "Skeptical Inquirer" fan! While I do enjoy some of the things they come up with and analyze, and find the rag to be a rather entertaining read, I'd like to see another source quoted with actual numbers and statistics that are more current than 1972...

Their citations are good, don't get me wrong... it's the superficial interpretation that makes me nuts.

Got anything? I'd love to see it! Not that I'm defending acupuncture or accupressure, nor discrediting it. I'm still out as the jury goes as to its benefits... but I don't need a study to tell me whether or not my patient is feeling better after an accupressure treatment, a massage, listening to a good CD, etc. If it works, placebo or not, go for it...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[firedoc5]

When I went through my sports medicine & massage therapy training I learned some accupressure procedures but I'm not sure about using as a regular treatment in the field with EMS. Sure there are a few things you can do along with some muscle manipulation but I don't know about it's practical use especially if you have a short transport time.

[ccmedoc]

Maybe if its in the context of sayyyy.....Sleeper holds, joint locks, and pressure points..Yeah, I can see it..

[Freaknuggetz_chick]

given the right training and yadda yadda, for sure! but, some situations i would still reach for the drug bag first. and if the accupressure doesnt work, then again i would reach for the drug bag.

[asy]

They say there is a time and place for everything...

Thanks for the post, links, and new angle to look at things.

[Asysin2leads]

Sometimes I think we get off on the wrong track here. I've read the literature on acupressure and acupuncture, and they may have some benefit in the rehab and chronic pain areas of treatment, but the last time I checked, pain in the emergency setting is something that needs slightly more aggressive treatment.

In other words, if I had a femur fracture and you offered to do acupressure on me, I'd use whatever strength I had left to crack you one. I need morphine and/or fentanyl. Heck, mix them up for all I care.