Pressure Points to Relieve Sinus Pain

Applying gentle, yet firm, pressure with your fingertips to certain pressure points on the face and body may help relieve sinus pain caused by congestion, colds or sinusitis. While this technique, called acupressure, may help ease your sinus discomfort, you still need to see a doctor to treat the underlying condition and protect against a serious sinus infection.

Pressure Points Near the Eyes

According to Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D., founder of the Acupressure Institute, several pressure points on the face may help relieve sinus pain and pressure and ease cold and flu symptoms. In the indentations of your eye sockets, where your eyebrow ridges meet the bridge of your nose, you'll find two matching points Gach calls "Drilling Bamboo." Applying pressure to these points may help relieve sinus congestion and frontal headaches. The "Facial Beauty" points, which relieve eye pressure, stuffy nose and congestion, lie at the bottom of your cheekbones, centered below your eye's pupil. Applying pressure to Gach's "Third Eye Point," located in the indentation between your eyebrows, may bring relief to headache pain, stuffy nose and head congestion.

Jordan S. Josephson, author of the book "Sinus Relief Now," lists "Stomach 2" points as being helpful in easing headaches 1. To find them, trace your finger along the lower orbital rim of your eye. You'll find the pressure point in a small depression directly below your pupil.

Pressure Points Near the Nose

The points Gach refers to as "Welcoming Perfume" sit just outside your nostrils and can also help relieve sinus pain and nasal congestion. In addition to those facial points near the nose, "Sinus Relief Now" also lists the "Bitong" points. They sit on the nostril at the base of your nasal bone. To apply pressure to these points, simply pinch above your nostril with your fingers.

Pressure Points Near the Hands and Arms

The Online Acupressure Guide of Stanford University suggests three pressure points on the hands and arms that may help relieve sinusitis symptoms and ease your sinus pain. To find the first point, look for a small depression on your upper wrist, directly in line with your thumb. The next point lies just below your thumbnail, on the side of your thumb farthest away from the rest of your fingers.

To find the third sinusitis pain point, squeeze your thumb and forefinger together. Right above the crease between your forefinger and thumb, you'll feel a ridge. Applying pressure to the middle of that ridge is "good for most problems from the waist up," claims the Online Acupressure Guide.