--- title: Does ear acupressure therapy help PMS symptoms? | Niyora description: The study found that women who received ear acupressure therapy had lower symptom scores than women who did not. However, the study was small and not randomiz url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-ear-acupressure-therapy-on-premenstrual-syndrome-and-dysmenorrhea-on-female-2013/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Does ear acupressure therapy help PMS symptoms? Non-randomised trial, 2013 # Does ear acupressure therapy help PMS symptoms? The study found that women who received ear acupressure therapy had lower symptom scores than women who did not. However, the study was small and not randomized, so we cannot be certain the therapy itself caused the improvement. Early or limited evidence 27 female college students ## What they did Quasi-experimental (nonrandomized) study. 27 female college students were divided into experimental group (13) and control group (14). Data was collected over 3 months. The experimental group received ear acupressure therapy 3 times over 60 days. The control group received no treatment. Symptoms were measured using a 0-10 scale (Keele's Visual Analogue Scale). ## What they found Before treatment, symptom scores were 7.3 (experimental group) and 7.46 (control group). After ear acupressure therapy, the experimental group scored 3.36 while the control group scored 7.17. So the experimental group improved from 7.3 to 3.36, while the control group remained at 7.17. ## What it means for you Ear acupressure therapy may help reduce PMS symptoms. However, this was a small, nonrandomized study without blinding, so the improvement could be due to placebo effect or bias rather than the therapy itself. The findings should be confirmed in larger, properly randomized studies. 27 College students studied 7.3 Experimental group symptom score before therapy 3.36 Experimental group symptom score after therapy ## About the study Original title The Ear Acupressure Therapy on Premenstrual Syndrome and Dysmenorrhea on Female college Students Authors Hye-Myoung Choung, Ju-Seung Song Journal Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information Year 2013 Study design Non-randomised trial Participants 27 What was tested Ear acupressure therapy, 3 times over 60 days Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.9708/jksci.2013.18.5.087](https://doi.org/10.9708/jksci.2013.18.5.087) ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Dysmenorrhea and period pain](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-dysmenorrhea/)[Acupuncture and acupressure](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-acupuncture/)[Students and academic performance](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-education/) Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits. Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor. ## Related studies Systematic review, 2025 How common are PMS, PMDD, and painful periods in nursing students, and do they affect their schooling? Systematic review, 2025 Does teaching adolescent girls about their menstrual cycle and health help reduce period pain and PMS? Systematic review, 2010 Does acupuncture treat premenstrual syndrome? Randomised trial, 2003 What complementary and alternative medicines help with women's reproductive health issues? Survey study, 2026 Does COVID-19 infection or depression affect menstrual periods? Survey study, 2026 Do young women with PMS search online for health information more and develop health anxiety from it? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗