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Postoperative nausea and vomiting is a common and distressing complication affecting up to 80% of high-risk surgical patients. It can delay recovery and prolong hospital stays, making effective prevention an important clinical priority. Wrist-ankle acupuncture is a simplified form of acupuncture that targets standardised points on the wrist and ankle, and has been explored as a non-drug option for managing such symptoms.
This pragmatic, randomised, single-blind, sham-controlled trial enrolled 132 high-risk female patients aged 18 to 60 years who were undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia and had a history of motion sickness or previous postoperative nausea and vomiting. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either real wrist-ankle acupuncture — using sterile needles at four standardised points retained for 30 minutes — or a sham acupuncture procedure after their operation. Postoperative nausea and vomiting incidence and severity were measured over 24 hours using a validated scoring tool.
Patients who received wrist-ankle acupuncture had a significantly lower rate of postoperative nausea and vomiting compared with the sham group (42.4% versus 71.2%). Symptom severity scores were also notably reduced at multiple time points — 30 minutes, 6 hours, and 24 hours after surgery — and patient satisfaction was higher in the wrist-ankle acupuncture group. Rates of rescue antiemetic medication use were similar between groups, and no adverse events were reported.
Conclusion: Wrist-ankle acupuncture showed meaningful benefits in reducing the incidence and severity of postoperative nausea and vomiting in high-risk female patients, suggesting it may be a safe and useful non-pharmacological addition to postoperative care.
Source: Yu L, Wang X, Mei L et al. Journal of investigative surgery : the official journal of the Academy of Surgical Research (2026). View on PubMed (PMID 42152719) · doi:10.1080/08941939.2026.2652778
