Comparison of subjective ratings and direct pressures produced by two acupressure wrist bands

The pressures produced by two types of acupressure wrist bands (used to alleviate feelings of motion sickness and nausea) were measured and compared to Borg CR-10 subjective ratings for 15 males and 15 females. Elastic Sea Band wristbands produced significantly higher forces than tape-type Pressure Right bands, 115 vs. 9.5 grams, due to the elasticity. Forces increased significantly with increasing wrist size but did not change over the one-half hour testing period. Subjective ratings of the pressure correlated poorly (r = 0.05) with direct pressure measurements, due to large intersubject variability and poor estimation abilities. Subjects preferred the lower pressures of the tape-type bands but did not like their difficult removal.