It is estimated that 50% to 90% of pregnant women experience morning sickness or a more severe condition, hyperemesis gravidarum, in which women vomit several times a day. There are several methods that women may use to help deal with morning sickness including medication, change of diet, exercise and others. Another method that may be helpful is the use of acupressure.
Acupressure operates on the same principle as acupuncture, in which needles are used to put pressure on certain points of the body. The less invasive technique relies on the thumb or a button to apply pressure and lasts between 3 and 15 minutes. Acustimulation is a variation on acupressure and uses an electrical stimulus instead of pressure.
Eastern and Western medical practitioners both describe a pressure point about 2 inches above the crease on the inner aspect of the wrist which may provide relieve from nausea. This is referred to as the NeiGuan Pressure Point (or P6.) There are commercially available products that will stimulate this point, typically in the form of a wrist band. Each band contains a button that presses on the vomiting-sensitive pressure point. An acustimulation variant may send a slight electrical stimulus to the point instead.
This sort of pressure point use may also be effective in treating nausea and vomiting in a person who is not pregnant.