Migraine is a disabling
neurological disorder, aggravated by accompanying symptomatology, such as
nausea. One of the most interesting approaches to
nausea adopted by
traditional Chinese medicine is the stimulation of the
acupoint PC6 Neiguan. Actually there are no studies in medical literature as to the efficacy of treating
PC6 acupoint for gastrointestinal symptoms in
migraine attacks. Our study aimed at verifying if pressure applied to the
acupoint PC6 was effective on
nausea during
migraine. Forty female patients suffering from
migraine without aura were enrolled, if
nausea was always present as accompanying symptomatology of their
migraine. The patients were treated randomly for a total of six
migraine attacks: three with the application of a device, the Sea-Band(®) wristband, which applies continual pressure to the
PC6 acupoint (phase SB), and three without it (phase C). The intensities of
nausea at the onset, at 30, 60, 120 and 240 min were evaluated on a scale from 0 to 10. The values were always significantly lower in phase SB than in phase C. Also the number of patients who reported at least a 50 % reduction in the
nausea score was significantly higher in phase SB than in phase C at 30, 60 and 120 min. Moreover, the consistency of the treatment (response in at least two out of three treated attacks) was reached in 28 % patients at 60 min; in 40 % at 120 min and 59 % at 240 min. Our results encourage the application of
PC6 acupressure for the treatment of
migraine-associated
nausea.