Around 2018, Lorre Chadbourne was getting regular acupuncture treatments in Morgan Hill, California, to relieve her joint and jaw pain, stress and disrupted sleep. One day, her acupuncturist suggested she try ear seeds, a form of treatment in which, typically, an acupuncturist places small pellets made of a variety of materials on key parts of a patient’s ear.
Ear seeds are the size of a tiny seed, two millimeters by two millimeters, and are attached to the ear with very small pieces of adhesive tape. An acupuncturist or other health care provider can attach them, but individuals can purchase kits and attach them themselves. Ear seeds can resemble small earrings.
The ear seeds provide a low-level form of acupressure, which the patient can boost by applying low-level pressure with a finger. Chadbourne’s acupuncturist attached about five ear seeds in each of her ears. Some were metal; some were plastic crystals, she recalls.
“My sleep improved immediately,” Chadbourne, 57, says. The ear seeds were placed in locations in her ear to help with her sleep, not her jaw pain. Improved sleep, in turn, helped alleviate her stress — additionally, she felt the treatment alleviated her joint and jaw pain. The treatment was simple, not painful or invasive.
Since then, Chadbourne has used seeds periodically, when she feels her health care regimen needs a boost. She sometimes purchases seeds to apply herself at home.
[See: Questions to Ask a Pain Management Doctor.]
Ear Seeding’s Roots in Acupuncture
Ear seeding — a form of auriculotherapy, also known as auricular therapy –has been a part of traditional Chinese medicine for about 3,000 years, says Gudrun Snyder, a licensed acupuncturist based in Chicago. She’s the owner of Moon Rabbit Acupuncture.
Acupuncture is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine. It entails inserting very thin, sterile needs through the skin at strategic pressure points, which balance the flow of energy — known as qi or chi — through the pathways of the body. Inserting needles at specific points on the pathways rebalances the patient’s energy flow.
When it comes to ear seeds, Chinese healers originally used seeds from the vaccaria plant, which is native to Eurasia. They used the seeds to apply pressure to different parts of the ear to treat a wide variety of conditions. Today, acupuncturists follow the same concept, but in addition to using vacarria seeds, they often use small pellets that are made of gold, stainless steel, silver, crystals or magnets.
Research on the effectiveness of ear seeds is currently not robust, but some studies suggest that auriculotherapy is effective for treating cancer pain, pre-operative anxiety, menstrual pain and hypertension. Research also suggests that auriculotherapy can help young kids stop biting their nails.
Ear seeds are a form of auriculotherapy in which acupressure is applied to pressure points located in the ear to treat a variety of conditions. The concept of auriculotherapy was pioneered in the 1950s by Dr. Paul Nogier, a French physician. He wrote a treatise describing how points in the ear were connected to the nervous system, according to research published in 2018 in the journal Medical Acupuncture. Various points in the ear represent different parts of the body’s anatomy and the patient’s psyche, including its traumas, according to research published in 2019 in Medical Acupuncture.
While there’s currently a limited body of studies on the effectiveness of ear seeds, research on auriculotherapy is growing, says Robin Green, a licensed acupuncturist based in Eagle, Idaho. She treated Chadbourne and suggested she try ear seeds. Green notes that some peer-reviewed studies suggest that auriculotherapy is effective for treating different kinds of pain, anxiety and other issues.
Without puncturing the skin, ear seeds provide stimulation to those pressure points. Nogier described a micro or reflex system in which diseases and conditions could be treated by stimulating a specific part of the ear, says Gracia Tharp, lead acupuncturist at the Osher Center for Integrative Health at the University of Washington in Seattle.. Simply by wearing ear seeds, patients receive low-level continuous stimulation.
They can add to the intensity of the stimulation by applying light pressure to the ear bead several times a day, Green says. Applying light pressure further activates the treatment provided by the beads. So if you place a bead on a pressure point aimed at reducing headaches, for instance, it may help manage the pain during a flare-up.
[SEE: Top Medications for Back Pain.]
Ear Seed Acupuncture Is Growing in Popularity
In the U.S., ear seeds have been used as a treatment since about the 1950s, says Tom Igegno, a licensed acupuncturist with Charm City Integrative Health in Baltimore. About 40% of his patients use ear seeds, he says.
The form of treatment has become more popular in the last decade or so, as patients have shared their positive experiences on Facebook, Instagram and other forms of social media. Ear seeds also got a boost when the New York Daily News reported in 2013 that Spanish actress Penelope Cruz had been seen in public with ear seeds.
Green, the acupuncturist who introduced Chadbourne to ear seeds, uses the tool with acupuncture clients. She is the co-founder of Thrive Ear Seed Club, an online business that trains health care professionals to use ear seeds to treat patients. Many of these professionals have had a positive experience with ear seeds and want to learn how to help their clients and patients benefit from the treatment, she says.
Ear seeds help patients participate in their health care. “Ear seeds are a tool used by acupuncturists as a way to send the patient home with something to continue the treatment,” adds Bob Sirianni, a board-certified acupuncturist with NYU Langone Health in New York City.
[See: Steps to Fall Asleep Fast.]
What Are Ear Seeds Used for?
Acupuncturists use ear seeding to treat a wide range of health issues, including:
— Anxiety.
— Back pain.
— Colds.
— Depression.
— Foot pain.
— Headaches/migraines.
— Hypertension.
— Insomnia.
— Menstrual pain.
— Nausea.
— PTSD.
— Substance misuse disorder.
— Weight loss.
There is no set number of ear seeds that acupuncturists and other health care providers will apply to patients at one time. Typically, the number ranges from one to five at the most, and they can be applied to one or both ears at a time.
“I like providing ear seeds to patients because it provides additional or continuous acupuncture treatment,” Tharp says. “It gives patients a tool to use between acupuncture sessions, to perhaps prolong the benefits of acupuncture. I think patients are excited to participate in their health journey. This is a way for them to participate in their treatment at home.”
Snyder, Green, Igegno and Tharp say many of their patients who receive ear seed treatments provide positive reviews.
The Science Behind Ear Seeding
While there are few studies so far specifically about ear seeds, the research that has been published suggests that auriculotherapy and auricular acupressure, or acupuncture based in the ear, are effective for treating several health issues, such as menstrual pain, hypertension, cancer pain and weight loss.
Other forms of auriculotherapy other than ear seeds include:
— Ear acupuncture, in which small needles are placed in the ears.
— Microcurrent electrical stimulation.
— Low-level laser stimulation.
For example, research published in 2021 in the Journal of Personalized Medicine studied the effectiveness of auricular-acupressure therapy as well as Kinesio taping for women with menstrual pain. Kinesio taping is a therapeutic approach in which Kinesio tape, a latex-free, hypoallergenic tape made of cotton fiber, is applied to the skin. Proponents say this creates a microscopic-size space between the skin and the tissues underneath, which they say can help alleviate pain.
Researchers concluded that “Kinesio taping and auricular acupressure have a beneficial effect on pain relief in women with (menstrual pain). Although both groups showed similar improvements, the changes in the auricular-acupressure group seemed to last longer.” Researchers concluded that both auricular acupressure and Kinesio taping could be used in conjunction with medication to treat menstrual pain, but not in place of medication.
A meta-analysis of 44 randomized controlled trials involving more than 5,000 participants published in 2019 in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing suggests that auricular therapy “could be provided to patients with hypertension as an adjunct to antihypertensive drugs for lowering blood pressure value and achieving blood pressure targets.”
Another study, a meta-analysis published in 2020 in the journal Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, suggests that auricular therapy is effective and safe for the treatment of cancer pain, and auricular therapy plus drug therapy is more effective than drug therapy alone, whether in terms of pain relief or adverse reactions.
Other studies suggest that auricular therapy is effective for quelling pre-operative surgery and helping kids to stop biting their nails. For example, research published in 2016 in the journal Medicine suggests that auricular therapy is effective for easing pre-operative anxiety in patients undergoing gynecological surgery. A small study published in 2019 in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine suggests that auricular acupressure appears to “improve the efficacy” of reversing the nail biting habit among kids between ages 8 and 12, “likely by reducing anxiety.”
Even if you’ve never tried alternative medicine, ear seeds are worth a try, Chadbourne says. “The benefits far outweigh any discomfort you might have (in trying alternative medicine),” she says.
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The Uses, Benefits and Side Effects of Ear Seeds originally appeared on usnews.com
