Effect of acupressure on pain and fatigue in people with chronic heart failure

This study was conducted to examine the effect of acupressure on severity of pain and fatigue in patients with chronic heart failure. Patients with chronic heart failure experience high levels of pain and fatigue. Acupressure is a simple, inexpensive and non-invasive method which may reduce the pain and fatigue in patients with chronic heart failure. In this single blind randomized clinical trial, 72 patients with chronic heart failure were recruited. Subjects were equally divided into two groups of experimental and placebo, by random allocation method. Then visual analogue scale and fatigue severity scale was used to evaluate the severity of pain and fatigue in each group. The members of experimental group were under acupressure in KI3, GV20 and CV6 point for 3 minutes bilaterally. In addition, the participants were instructed to perform acupressure in same point three times a day for four weeks. Subjects in placebo group were trained to touch the points. Four weeks after intervention, the severity of pain and fatigue was measured in both groups. The data were analyzed by SPSS. The study findings showed no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of demographics, and severity of pain (p=1.000) and severity of fatigue (p=0.285) before intervention. After four weeks of intervention, a statistically significant relief on severity of pain (p=0.006) and fatigue (p≤ 0.0001) was seen in experimental group compared with placebo group. Acupressure can be effective in decreasing severity of pain and fatigue in people with chronic heart failure.