The Effect of Acupressure on Multiple Sclerosis Patients (MS)

April 23, 2026 updated by: Mustafa Karaağaç, Hasan Kalyoncu University

The Effect of Acupressure on Pain, Fatigue, Sleep, and Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

There are studies in the literature evaluating the effects of acupressure application in MS patients. In a study; it was shown that acupressure application reduced pain and fatigue. In a study; acupressure was found to reduce fatigue and depression scores. In a study; acupressure was found to improve the patient's physical and cognitive functions and quality of life. In a study; acupressure was found to have positive effects on reducing fatigue in MS patients. In a study acupressure application was found to have significant effects in reducing fatigue. There are no studies evaluating the combined effects of acupressure on fatigue, pain, sleep quality, and quality of life parameters in MS patients. This study is planned to determine the effects of acupressure on fatigue, pain, sleep quality, and quality of life in MS patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

90

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Şanlıurfa
      • Sanliurfa, Şanlıurfa, Turkey (Türkiye), 63000
        • Hospital of Harran University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At least 6 months of confirmed MS diagnosis
  • With RRMS
  • Aged 18 years or older
  • With a pain score of VAS≥3
  • Not having used pain medication in the last 8 hours prior to the acupressure session
  • With a Fatigue Severity Scale score of 4 or higher
  • Without a diagnosis of cancer
  • Without diabetes
  • No neurological disease other than MS
  • Not receiving any other complementary treatment
  • Non-smoker
  • Literate and able to communicate
  • No deformity or lesion in the areas where acupressure will be applied
  • No mental problems that could prevent cooperation with the acupressure application
  • Not taking sedative medication
  • With stable vital signs
  • Without heart disease
  • Not pregnant
  • Residing in Şanlıurfa
  • Patients who are willing to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients who did not attend at least 4 sessions
  • Patients who wish to withdraw from the study

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control
Experimental: intervention
Other: Acupressure
examining pain, fatigue, sleep, and quality of life
Sham Comparator: sham
Plasebo
Other: Acupressure
examining pain, fatigue, sleep, and quality of life

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS)
Time Frame: Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
The FSS is a 9-item scale used to assess the impact of fatigue on daily activities. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7. The total score is the average of the 9 items. Scores range from 1 to 7, where higher scores indicate greater fatigue severity (worse outcome).
Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for Pain
Time Frame: Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is used to measure the intensity of pain. It consists of a 10-cm horizontal line where 0 indicates "no pain" and 10 indicates "unbearable pain." Participants mark the point that represents their current pain level. Higher scores represent increased pain intensity (worse outcome).
Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)
Time Frame: Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
The PSQI is used to evaluate sleep quality over the past month. It consists of 19 individual items generating seven component scores. The total score ranges from 0 to 21. A higher total score indicates poorer sleep quality (worse outcome).
Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQOL-54)
Time Frame: Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.
The MSQOL-54 is a multidimensional health-related quality of life measure. It provides two main summary scores: Physical Health and Mental Health. Scores for each subscale are transformed to a 0-100 scale. For these subscales, higher scores indicate a better quality of life (better outcome).
Baseline, at the end of the 3rd week, and at the end of the 6th week.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Hasan Kalyoncu University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 7, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 23, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 23, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2025/016
  • Non (Other Identifier: Non)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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