Breast cancer survivors with persistent fatigue could benefit from a course of acupressure, a JAMA Oncology study suggests.
Some 270 women who’d completed breast cancer treatment at least 12 months earlier and still had fatigue were randomized to perform self-administered acupressure daily or to receive usual care for 6 weeks. At baseline, women assigned to acupressure were trained briefly in either relaxing or stimulating acupressure. At the end of the treatment period, significantly more women in the relaxing and stimulating acupressure groups achieved normal fatigue levels (66% and 61% of participants, respectively), compared with usual care (31%). The effect persisted after a 4-week washout period. Relaxing acupressure also improved sleep and quality-of-life. The authors conclude: “Self-administered relaxing acupressure could offer an inexpensive, easy-to-learn intervention for improving fatigue, sleep, and quality of life in fatigued breast cancer survivors.” |
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