Effects of Acupressure on Symptoms Relief and Improving Sleep Quality in Pediatric Patients With Allergic Rhinitis

Lei RL, Lin WC, Lin CC, Lei RW · Holistic Nursing Practice · 2020 April 01

Objective

To investigate whether acupressure can be used as a daily nursing care practice to reduce allergic rhinitis symptom severity and improve sleep quality in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis.

Conclusions

Acupressure significantly reduced allergic rhinitis symptoms and improved sleep quality without adverse effects, supporting its use as a daily nursing care practice for pediatric patients with this chronic disorder.

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Insights

Nightly home acupressure reduced childhood allergic rhinitis symptoms and improved sleep without reported adverse effects.

Children with allergic rhinitis were randomly assigned to either an acupressure group or a control group. Caregivers in the acupressure group received training to apply pressure to six specified body points at home each night for four weeks, while control participants continued their usual routines. Questionnaires collected demographic and clinical information and assessed nasal and eye symptoms, sleep quality, and allergic rhinitis severity before treatment and during follow-up. Compared with usual routines, acupressure produced greater improvements in overall nasal symptoms, sneezing, congestion, nose and palate itching, watery eyes, sleep quality, and allergic rhinitis classification. Improvements appeared early in the intervention and were maintained through the treatment period, with no adverse effects reported.