The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Acupressure with Aromatherapy

Hello and welcome to Medical Mondays! I have a more alternative-health-y post for you today by way of a book review on acupressure! (This post is sponsored, but as usual, all thoughts/opinions are mine and mine alone!)

Acupressure has been used for a long, long time, and randomized trials have found it to be beneficial for conditions like motion sickness, nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, allergic rhinitis, dysmenorrhea, and even with decreasing pain with labor/active labor time.

As a disclaimer, it’s also difficult to adequately blind subjects for these types of studies, so it remains uncertain whether acupressure provides a benefit beyond a placebo effect. Complementary/alternative medicine can be helpful, but also should not replace actually being seen and evaluated by your doctor if you are suffering from a medical condition!

The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Acupressure with Aromatherapy

By Karin Parramore

Genre: Health, Alternative Medicine
Pages: 272

This book starts off with a discussion on Chinese Medicine, the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), and an explanation of the “channel theory.” Channels are places where the qi (vital energy) flows through the body) and acupressure uses these acupuncture points to reach these regions.

Acupressure Points

Acupressure is based on acupuncture, which I tried for the first time earlier this year during my face fiasco. This chapter talks about how to access/apply pressure to different acupressure points and shows where a bunch of acupressure points are!

Each point is accompanied with photos to show you how/where to find the correct location and also includes a table of different conditions that this can help with.

Aromatherapy: Using Essential Oils for Health Conditions

The third chapter discusses the storage/efficacy of essential oils and how to use them. It also includes a pretty comprehensive chart that goes over the dilution (maximum dilution for safe use), any pertinent warnings/cautions, the physiologic cations of the oil, its primary compounds, its nature according to the Chinese Medicine categories, and what conditions it can be good for.

Be careful with these oils when working with children, pregnant women, those with seizure disorders, and in those who are sensitive to inhaled scents. (Some are also photosensitizing, which can increase sun damage to the skin!)

Acupressure and Aromatherapy for Conditions

And now…to combine it all! This chapter goes through different medical conditions (sorted by system):

• Head, Face and Neck Conditions
• Respiratory Conditions
• Circulatory Conditions
• Digestive Conditions
• Reproductive Conditions
• Integumentary Conditions (Skin Disorders)
• Musculoskeletal Conditions
• Endocrine Conditions
• Lymph and Immune Conditions
• Urinary Conditions
• Nervous System Conditions

The book includes an explanation of the condition, signs and symptoms, other treatments, and aromatherapy + acupressure points to consider. I really, really appreciate the notes it included on the conditions that could be a symptom of something more serious (e.g. angina pectoris, aka chest pain–to investigate heart health since angina is a primary symptom of heart disease + seek medical attention).

There’s even a glossary at the end to define terms that might be confusing (e.g. I didn’t know what emmenagogue was until I read this) and a reference section with different articles, books and sites that were used to create this book!

All in all, this was definitely an interesting read. I’m hoping I’ll stay healthy, but will definitely have to revisit this when allergy season hits again (or if I get struck down by another cold)!

• Have you ever tried acupressure or aromatherapy?
• Ever tried using essential oils? What’s your favorite one?

Check out my other book reviews!