Wristbands curb nausea brought on by radiation

Acupressure wristbands help cancer patients who are nauseous from radiation treatment, according to a study in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.

In the past, the placebo effect has explained away why the wristbands reduced nausea. In the current study involving 88 people, the researchers set out to see if they could change the patients’ expectations. Lead author Joseph A. Roscoe, PhD, a research associate professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, found the wristbands still reduced nausea symptoms even with manipulated information.

Dr. Roscoe and colleagues divided the patients into three groups: a wristband group with information about how wristbands aid nausea, a wristband group with more neutral information, and a control group (J Pain Symptom Manage online, 2009 Mar 27).

Nausea fell 23.8% for all the patients who wore wristbands compared with a 4.8% decrease in the control group. No differences were found between the wristband groups.