Cancer treatment can result in fatigue that may last many months after the treatment is finished. Michigan scientists may have found a technique that can help overcome fatigue, however.
How Can Breast Cancer Survivors Overcome Fatigue?
They recruited 288 breast cancer survivors who were still feeling significant fatigue at least a year after completing treatment. The women were randomly assigned to one of three groups: usual care, which served as a control group; a group taught to do acupressure on relaxation points; and a group taught to do acupressure on stimulating points.
Why Acupressure?
Acupressure, like acupuncture, uses the Chinese system of meridians to determine where the needle (in the case of acupuncture) or the pressure should be applied. While acupressure can be done by a professional, it can also be self-administered. In this study, the women learned exactly where and how to apply the pressure themselves.
What Were the Results?
The average fatigue score at the start of the study was 5 out of 10 possible points. The self-administered acupressure took three minutes a day.
After six weeks, more than 60 percent of the women in each acupressure group had lowered their fatigue scores into the normal range, compared to 31 percent of those in the usual care group. The ability to overcome fatigue lasted for at least one more month.
Women in the two acupressure groups did not differ significantly with respect to the fatigue they experienced, although those using the relaxation pressure points had better sleep and quality of life scores. Around 12 percent of the women dropped out because they found the acupressure practice too time consuming.
Two women reported bruising, but that was the only side effect in the study. The investigators conclude that “Relaxing acupressure offers a possible low-cost option for managing symptoms.”
