Yoga, Reiki, acupressure helpful, evidence-based tools in allergy practice, expert says

Key takeaways:

• Integrative therapies are inexpensive and widely accessible.
• They improve asthma symptoms as well as pain.
• Acupressure may improve sinus symptoms.

BOSTON — Yoga, Reiki, acupressure and emotional freedom techniques can be beneficial in allergy practice, according to a presentation at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting.

Atoosa Kourosh, MD, MPH, RYT, chief medical officer of Holistic Allergy & Immunology, explained during her presentation that complementary and alternative health care is not currently considered to be part of conventional medicine but should be accepted as mainstream.

She cited the use of probiotics as an example of a medicine that used to be considered unconventional but has since become included in the practice parameters of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Atoosa Kourosh

“When I was prescribing them 20 years ago, my colleagues fondly referred to them as voodoo medicine,” Kourosh said.

Kourosh further explained that complementary practices can be grouped into five major domains. Those being alternative medical systems, mind-body interventions, biologically based treatments, manipulative and body-based methods and energy therapies.

“These therapies are evidence based, and more than 40% of Americans are using some kind of holistic therapy,” Kourosh said. “Chances are up to half of your patients are using these practices at some point. And as physicians, it’s our obligation to become familiar with them.”

Yoga therapy

Asthma patients can have attacks triggered by anxiety. There may also be allergy-related mediating variables in immunity and cytokines that are affected by obstruction of the nasal passages, sleep, disturbed cognitive functioning and genetic overlap that account for mood syndromes in allergy sufferers, Kourosh said.

She cited a 2017 meta-analysis by Paudyal et al. which showed that meditation may be beneficial in improving quality of life in asthma patients.

The practice of yoga incorporates breath exercises, and “breathing exercises have been shown to assist with asthma control and impact on quality of life as well as psychological stressors,” Kourosh said.

Kourosh listed the Buteyko technique, the Papworth method and yoga (pranayama) breathing as validated methods.

“Generally, anything you’re doing to work on breath control and breath mediation in patients will help with their asthma,” she said.

She also mentioned the ACAAI “Better Breathing Guide” that was developed by the integrative medicine committee as part of the COVID-19 pandemic toolkit made for the College. This guide includes a series of videos that demonstrate breathing techniques.

“They’re very easy to share with your patients and they’re from a validated source,” Kourosh said. “So, it’s more likely that your patients will trust them and use them as medical recommendations.”

Utilizing pranayama breath to relieve sinusitis was shown to improve sino-nasal outcome test-22 scores in a 2019 study by Abishek et al., Kourosh noted.

“Integrating this regular practice of what’s called bhramari pranayama, which is bumblebee breath, along with conventional mainstream medicine, helps with chronic sinusitis and more,” she said.

Yoga breath practices were also shown to be helpful for vocal cord dysfunction.

“They’re a cornerstone of therapy used by speech therapy,” Kourosh said. “They include diaphragmatic breathing, as well as in athletes that have vocal cord dysfunction. They’re taught the sniffing technique as well as exhaling gently through pursed lips, which is a component of Sitali breath, one of the yoga practices.”

Aside from these benefits, yoga breathing also has positive effects on fibromyalgia, according to Kourosh.

“It’s become a standard of care for rheumatologists to recommend yoga and breath practices for fibromyalgia patients,” she said.

She cited additional studies that showed yoga to be helpful in pain and fatigue outcomes in patients with fibromyalgia.

Reiki

Kourosh prefaced this topic by explaining that Reiki is an energy medicine practice that was developed in the 1900s in Japan.

“It’s proven to be better than placebo and has broader potential as a complementary health therapy for alleviating anxiety, stress and pain perception,” she said.

Kourosh noted that in autoimmune conditions that cause pain, Reiki has been shown to help. She recounted a randomized study by SevgiÜnal Aslan and Cetinkaya that treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The study results showed that patients who were treated with Reiki and hand massage interventions had lower mean pain scores and fatigue severity.

Acupressure

Kourosh explained that acupressure is a practice that evolved from acupuncture points in traditional Chinese medicine.

“These points are used with pressure at those specific points and have been shown to also help with pain relief,” she said.

Kourosh further emphasized that acupressure points have been shown to help with rheumatoid arthritis pain control and seasonal allergic rhinitis.

“Reducing pain and pressure in sinusitis has also been shown through reflexology, which is a subbranch of acupressure,” Kourosh said. “There are points shown on the face that can help with sinusitis, common cold headache and migraine itching and several other conditions.”

Emotional freedom technique

The last technique Kourosh addressed was the emotional freedom technique, or what is commonly known as “tapping.” She said this method combines Chinese acupuncture techniques with modern psychological techniques such as neuro linguistic programming.

“This method involves both tapping specific meridian points on the body starting at the top of the head while focusing on emotional issues and a mantra spoken out loud,” Kourosh said.

“It showed that it significantly reduces anxiety among participants compared to other interventions,” she continued. “Reductions in cortisol levels and a decrease in anxiety and perceived stress were also seen.”

Kourosh noted that therapeutic tapping can also alter the brain’s perception of pain. Some studies have shown it to reduce PTSD symptoms, anxiety, depression and insomnia as well as autoimmune disease symptoms.

Safety concerns

One of the greatest benefits of these techniques is that they are incredibly inexpensive and have virtually no side effects, Kourosh said.

“Yoga practices and breathing techniques offer safe and inexpensive tools accessible to most patients from school age to the elderly,” she said. “They can be taught in the office or through video links and improve anxiety, asthma, vocal cord dysfunction, quality of life and sinus symptoms.”

“Breath practices are incredibly safe,” she continued. “Reiki and acupressure techniques also show promise in rheumatoid arthritis and other allergy and immunology conditions for pain relief. Anxiety, reducing sinus pressure and lowering symptom scores and emotional freedom techniques are safe and effective.”

References:

• Paudyal P, et al. J Asthma. 2017;doi:10.1080/02770903.2017.1365887.
• SevgiÜnal Aslan K, et al. Explore (NY). 2022;doi:10.1016/j.explore.2022.06.006.

For more information:

Atoosa Kourosh, MD, MPH, RYT, can be reached at info@doctoratoosa.com.