Acupressure for Pain Management and Fatigue Relief in Gulf War Veterans

Acupressure will be provided 40 min/day, 2 days/week for 6 weeks (total of 12 sessions). Symptomatic veterans will receive standardized acupressure treatment for \~5 s on each acupoint until the subject gets the sense of soreness and numbness, and the procedure will be repeated three times. Kneading massage will be applied around eyes and forehead, and face will be swabbed by palm for \~ 5 min. Manipulation of these acupoints is aimed at helping to calm and ease the subject, lighten headache and migraine, relieve fatigue, and alleviate insomnia.

Veterans in the control group will receive reiki treatment with the same dosage (40 min/session, 12 sessions in 6 wks). The practitioner will place his/her hands on the recipient in various positions covering head, the back of the torso, and the 4 limbs with fixed set of 12 hand positions. These covered areas will then be tapped and stroked, and practitioner will focus his/her gaze on these areas for 2-3 min, through which the healing energy is transferred to the subjects. In a format similar to acupressure treatment, it will be used as an inert control treatment to balance additional care the experimental group will receive.