The 7 Most Common Pressure Points, and What Each One Can Actually Do

There’s some decent evidence behind just one of these seven pressure points. Cochrane published a systematic review of it, looking at 77 studies including 9,847 people. There is less, or in some cases no, evidence supporting the other six.

Start with the one that could hurt you

Point CV17 is in the middle of the breastbone, and it is commonly recommended for tightness in the chest. Tightness in your chest is never helped by pressing on it with your fingertips. Tightness in the chest is a symptom of a heart attack, particularly if coupled with any other symptoms such as pain traveling into the arm or jaw, sudden nausea or breathlessness, all symptoms the NHS advises warrant an emergency call for help. So the person having the heart attack wastes 30 seconds pressing on their breastbone instead of calling 911, where every second could count.

1. P6 (Neiguan) — the one with real evidence

There’s modest evidence that acupressure at this acupoint may help with some kinds of nausea. A 2025-updated review by Cochrane, an evidence-based medical research group, found that acupoint stimulation may reduce the number of people who experience nausea (by about a third) and vomiting (by about 40%) after surgery, compared with sham (fake) stimulation. It may also reduce the number of people who need rescue anti-sickness medications.

However, Cochrane researchers had low confidence in most of these results, due to imprecision and inconsistencies in findings and issues with how the underlying studies were done.

Most studies included in the Cochrane review evaluated acupuncture or wristbands that stimulated the acupoint; not whether applying acupressure with a thumb would work.

Separately, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute describes a 2007 study that evaluated the effect of acupressure at this acupoint, applied with a thumb, on more than 160 women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer. Researchers found no evidence it helped acute (right after treatment) chemotherapy-induced nausea, but it did significantly help some women with delayed-onset (starting day two) nausea.

Despite what you may have been told, research does not show acupressure or wristbands with magnets are helpful for motion sickness, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

How to apply acupressure here: Memorial Sloan Kettering suggests applying acupressure at this point several times a day, until symptoms ease. Turn your hand so your palm is facing up. Place your opposite thumb between the two large tendons, about three fingers from your wrist, and massage in small circles with firm (but not painful) pressure, for two-to-three minutes. Repeat on the other side. (Don’t just give it a poke and think you’re done! Thirty seconds is nowhere near long enough!)

2. LI4 (Hegu) — plausible neighborhood, almost no direct testing

According to NCCIH, there’s some evidence of moderate quality that acupuncture can decrease the frequency of migraines and evidence of moderate to low quality that acupuncture may be helpful for tension headaches. So of the conditions listed above, headache is in the realm of plausibility, although not in the way it is commonly described. That NCCIH evidence is about acupuncture rather than acupressure, which involves needles inserted into multiple points and administered by a practitioner over multiple treatments. A literature search turns up a couple (not a mountain) of studies of just this point LI4. So while you may get some temporary relief, toothache and face pain have even less support. This is one of the two pregnancy points.

3. SP6 (Sanyinjiao) — this one is commonly placed wrong

The location isn’t correct either. This point is about four finger widths above the tip of the inner ankle bone, just behind the back edge of the shin bone, on the lower leg. Not the “foot inner arch,” as it is commonly labeled. Press there and you’ll be several inches away from the point. That’s no rounding error.

This is also the second pregnancy point. This point is commonly recommended for insomnia, anxiety and menstrual cramps. Luckily, period pain is the one of those that has any studies. Unfortunately, a Cochrane review of the subject found there wasn’t enough evidence to say if it does or does not work: There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the effects of acupuncture or acupressure for primary dysmenorrhea … The quality of evidence ranged from very low to low in the studies. Not to say acupuncture/acupressure doesn’t work, just that the evidence doesn’t currently say it does or does not.

4. GB20 (Fengchi) — the migraine evidence isn’t about pressing it yourself

GB20 is in the hollow underneath the base of your skull, between the two big prominent muscles in the back of the neck. Yes, putting your finger here and rubbing will likely make it feel better if you have a tight neck. But it is commonly recommended for migraine, neck tension and congestion.

There is some valid NCCIH evidence (using GB20 along with many other points, and using acupuncture needles) of decreased frequency of migraines, but that’s a far cry from what’s stated here!

5. CV17 (Danzhong) — the one to skip

This came up earlier, and it’s worth repeating. There’s no scientific research to back up the assertions about the pressure point, and its main claim to fame is a symptom that requires medical attention rather than a thumb. You can’t measure grief, and chest tightness requires evaluation.

6. Yintang (the “third eye”) — pleasant, unstudied

GV24.5 (this designation is actually informal, as in most classification schemes, it is considered an “extra” point not actually part of the governing vessel point sequence) is located midway between the eyebrows. It is commonly recommended for mental clarity, stress and sinus pressure. Anxiety is the one of those that has actually been looked at. A handful of small trials, most of them in people waiting for surgery, found reductions in self-reported anxiety after pressure or needling here, including a randomized trial in women before a cesarean. Mental clarity and sinus pressure have nothing comparable behind them. Still, rubbing between your eyebrows won’t hurt anything, and many find it to be a calming sensation.

7. SP9 (Yinlingquan) — and a symptom worth taking seriously

Water retention should be cause for concern! If you frequently have swollen legs it could be a symptom of problems with your heart, kidneys or liver, so should be seen by a clinician, not massaged with your thumb. And certainly not one for a thirty-second fix.

SP9: In the dip on the inside of the leg just under the knee (under the bony bit at the top of your shin). This one is commonly placed correctly. Indications are water retention (see above!), bloating, and knee pain (no evidence for this SP in particular, but probably ok, at least plausible, and local rather than systemic so more amenable to massage).

Why one point and one symptom is the wrong unit

Except in the case of P6, one point matched to one symptom isn’t a simplification of what was done in the research – it’s something entirely different. Nearly all acupuncture/acupressure research involves testing an acupressure/acupuncture protocol – a combination of points, administered by a practitioner, over the course of more than one treatment. Aside from P6, very little research has tested a lay person pressing on an area on her own body for thirty seconds. P6 is the exception because someone thought of the idea for a pressure wristband centered around that one acupoint. Which made P6 much cheaper and simpler to study – it’s much easier to make a sham version of a pressure band for the control group, for instance, or to be sure the intervention is being applied in the same way each time – which is why P6 has such a body of evidence behind it that the other six acupoints just don’t. So when you read “moderate-quality evidence for migraine,” you should envision multiple acupuncture needles being placed in multiple acupoints on the body by a trained practitioner – not standing at home and pressing behind your ear.

The warning for pregnancy

There’s one caveat in acupressure that has traditionally been mentioned, that LI4 and SP6 shouldn’t be stimulated by pregnant women because they’re the pair traditionally reached for when someone is trying to bring on labor. A Cochrane review of 22 trials (involving 3,456 pregnant women) found moderate to high-quality evidence that acupuncture/acupressure does not decrease the cesarean rate, with no clear benefit for bringing on labor, so although the evidence behind the efficacy of these points is probably a little folkloric/weak, there’s no harm in heeding the advice (and as mentioned, it’s pretty widespread in the acupressure world), and SP6 is commonly recommended for menstrual cramps, which puts it in front of readers who may well be pregnant.

If you want to try one anyway

Before moving on, there are some guidelines that Memorial Sloan Kettering provides that pertain to all acupressure points. They include not pressing points if the skin over or near a point is blistered, peeling or broken (open wound) or if the points appear to be red, swollen, warm, purulent or rashy. In addition, pregnant women should avoid pressing the points LI4 and SP6. Pressure should be firm but never painful. Acupressure should complement but not supplant medical treatment. Aside from that, acupressure is pretty risk free. There’s a decent amount of evidence for point P6 for post-surgical nausea. So, playing around with a point, just to see what happens, seems like a reasonable choice.

When to stop pressing and get help

See a health professional if the symptom continues or returns or has not gone away after several days. Get urgent advice if you are vomiting repeatedly and cannot keep down fluids. Get emergency care if you vomit blood, or material that looks like coffee grounds, or have sudden, severe abdominal pain. The same goes for sudden nausea arriving alongside a tight or heavy feeling in the chest, arm or jaw pain, or trouble breathing, because that combination can mean a heart attack. If you think you’re having a heart attack, call 911 (if you are in the US) or your local emergency number. That last one is the symptom CV17 is recommended for.

Martha "Marti" Jones

Martha ‘Marti’ Jones founded Fitness Four after three decades of living with IBS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and pernicious anemia. She spent two decades in the food industry, so she knows how important it is to be aware of what you’re eating.

She’s 76, lives in Eastern North Carolina, walks and is learning to get used to lifting weights more and more. She spends as much time as she can in her backyard garden.

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