weight loss research with acupressure

Self-acupressure technique shows promise in pilot study

Portland, Ore. — Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research has received a $2.1 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to study the effectiveness of a technique combining self-acupressure with mental imagery to help people maintain weight loss.

The Center is seeking about 500 overweight people to participate in the LIFE study which will test the Tapas Acupressure Technique™. TAT involves lightly touching specific pressure points on your face and the back of your head. While holding these points for a few seconds or minutes you are asked to focus on a problem, in this case on losing weight or maintaining weight loss.

The technique was developed in 1994 by Tapas Fleming, a California acupuncturist. It has been used widely to treat trauma, stress and food allergies, but this is the first time it has been tested in a large clinical trial.

"The Tapas Acupressure Technique did show superiority in helping people maintain weight loss in a pilot study involving 90 participants," says Charles Elder, MD, principal investigator and an internal medicine physician at Kaiser Permanente Northwest. In the pilot study, the TAT group maintained greater weight loss than a social support group, and another group that practiced the Chinese exercise and breathing technique known as Qigong.