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Shoulder pain after laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery is one of the important complications that can increase patients’ discomfort and their length of stay at the hospital. This study aimed to compare the effects of body acupressure and ear acupressure on shoulder pain in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. 101 patients participated in this randomized controlled clinical trial in 2022. They completed the demographic information form and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Then, they were assigned into ear acupressure, body acupressure, and control groups through block randomization. The control group did not receive any intervention. The amount of shoulder pain in patients was recorded in all three groups by using the VAS one (T1), four (T2), and eight (T3) hours after the intervention. Data analysis was done with the SPSS software (v. 25). The mean shoulder pain score in the ear acupressure group was lower than that in the body acupressure group and the control group in T1 (P

Back pain is a common complaint seen in patients after coronary angiography. This study investigated the efficacy of ear acupressure for reduction of back pain in patients after coronary angiography. In this trial, 120 patients recruited from a post-angiography ward were allocated to an ear acupressure or a control group. Pain assessment in intervention group was performed immediately after participants entered post- coronary angiography ward (T0), twenty minutes after entering the ward (T1), and two, four, and six hours after the intervention (T2–T4). Pain in control group was assessed at the times similar to intervention group. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (v. 19) by Chi-square, Fisher’s exact, independent t tests, Friedman test, Wilcoxon signed-rank, and Mann-Whitney U test. Final data analysis was done on the data gathered from 58 participants in the control group and 59 in the ear acupressure group. The pain intensity at T1–T4 for patients in the control group was significantly higher than T0 (P < 0.001), while patients in the ear acupressure group reported that pain intensity at T2–T4 was significantly higher than T0 for them (P < 0.001). Only at T1 and T2, pain intensity in the ear acupressure group was significantly less compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Ear acupressure in this study was effective to some extent in reducing back pain after coronary angiography. Future studies can be designed to examine the effects of ear acupressure using different ear acupressure points on the back pain after coronary angiography.