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Acupressure for Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia

Traditional Chinese medicine is all about energy. And any disease is viewed as an imbalance of energy, defficiency or excess, thick slow energy or thin quick energy - if they're not properly balanced the result is ill health. I personally believe Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is worth trying for cases of ME/CFS as it is unlikely to make things worse and is quite likely to offer some improvement, and occassionally even lead to full recovery.

Acupuncture is not cheap of course, and when it is available on the NHS it's usually only used as pain relief for bad backs. You can achieve some benefit by knowing a few of the common acupressure points and pressing on them yourself. Acupressure is more limited than acupuncture. Firstly acupuncture is a treatment that must be tailored to the individual patient - so two people with apparently identical symptoms may be treated with a different combination of accupuncture points, making it difficult to diagnose yourself.

Secondly, acupuncture can both boost the energy where it is weak and clear excess energy, whereas acupressure can really only do the latter. However in ME/CFS the problem is just as likely to be a result of blocked energy as defficiency, which means clearing a blockage can help the energy to flow through the acupuncture channels and so boost energy where before it was weak. Given that you can do acupressure on yourself and at any time of day or night rather than waiting for your appointment, (for example press on the points for insomnia if you're unable to sleep) it's certainly worth giving it a try. Also if you find acupressure is benefiting you, it's worth considering going for acupunture.

Below are pictured some of the most common acupuncture/acupressure points and what they are (generally) used for. The rule with acupressure is if a point is tender, it will probably benefit from being pressed. Next time it should be less tender as progressively the energy clears. However some points are far more sensitive than others - S36 for example is nearly always a little bit tender, even in healthy people. If on the other hand you're getting no sensations from a point, it either doesn't need treating or is low in energy, and pressing it will just disipate the energy further. So try a point a few times and if after a few successive treatments it's not having the desired effect it's probably not an acupuncture point that will help.

Acupressure technique

Press for around 1 to 5 minutes on any points you are treating and give an equal time to the same point on each side of the body, as in fact you may experience discomfort on one side when the problem is actually on the other side. (DM20 is the only exception here as it is the only point I've listed in the centre of the body). Use moderate pressure - you're not trying to drill a hole in yourself but equally just resting a finger on an acupoint won't have any noticable effect. You can use fingertips, knuckles, or thumbs to press as some points are going to be easier than others. For example I bend my middle finger and use the knuckle to press on S36, but use only light fingertip pressure on Taiyang. A useful tip for doing K1 is to grip your left foot with your left hand, the left thumb pressing on the accupoint, and then use your right hand to turn the ball of the foot 10 times clockwise then anti-clockwise - then do the same on the other side.

Accupuncture channels and meridians

In TCM the body energy circulates through 14 meridians, (at the surface), and 8 channels, (under the surface). There are also some extra acupoints, such as Taiyang, that don't belong to either of these. The energy circulation begins with the lung channel and passes through the twelve meridians which are related to the bodies major organs. The prefixes here indicate which channel the points belong to. K = Kidney, SP = Spleen, L = Lung, H = Heart, B = Bladder, G = Gall Bladder, PE = Pericardium, LI = Large Intestine. TW stands for Triple Warmer, a kind of 'virtual organ' in Chinese medicine, and DM is the Du Mai which runs along the spine and connects with the Ren Mai which runs along the front, centre of the body.

Measuring to acupressure points

Body inches, cun, are a useful way to find acupressure points. This is a quite accurate method of measurement as it is in proportion to the size of the person. The width of your thumb at the knuckle is one cun, the width of the other four fingers measures three cun.

Cautions

Note that these points are suggestions of points for symptoms of ME/CFS. If you have another serious illness, ie. Heart disease or high blood pressure, asthma, they could even make that condition worse - in which case go to see a qualified accupuncturist first and discuss possible acupoints. Likewise get expert advice before using acupoints during pregnancy. And as with all the exercises and treatments on these pages they are suggestions which may improve, aggrevate or have no effect on your ME/CFS - please read my disclaimer before trying any exercises or self treatments listed in these page. I am not a medical professional - so use your own judgement about whether or not they are appropriate for you.

Here are the locations of the points. I've cross referenced what they are used for underneath.

Suggested points for particular symptoms.