Eye exercises of acupoints: their impact on myopia and visual symptoms in Chinese rural children

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Balamurali Vasudevan¹  Kenneth J. Ciuffreda²  Vishal Jhanji³  Su Jie Fang⁴  Wei Han⁴  Tie Ying Gao⁴  Zhong Lin⁵  Yuan Bo Liang⁵  Guang Yun Mao⁶ 

[1] College of Optometry, Mid Western University, Glendale, AZ, USA;Department of Biological and Vision Sciences, SUNY College of Optometry, New York, NY, USA;Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China;Handan Eye Hospital, Handan, Hebei, China;The Eye Hospital, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, No. 270 West College Road, 325027, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China;The Eye Hospital, School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Wenzhou Medical University, No. 270 West College Road, 325027, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China;School of Environmental Science &Public Health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China;

关键词: Eye exercises;    Acupoints;    Myopia;    Near vision symptoms;    CISS;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12906-016-1289-4

 received in 2016-02-04, accepted in 2016-08-13,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChinese traditional “eye exercises of acupoints” have been advocated as a compulsory measure to reduce visual symptoms, as well as to retard the development of refractive error, among Chinese students for decades. The exercises are comprised of a 5-min, bilateral eye acupoint self-massage. This study evaluated the possible effect of these eye exercises among Chinese rural students.MethodsEight hundred thirty-six students (437 males, 52.3 %), aged 10.6 ± 2.5 (range 6–17) years from the Handan Offspring Myopia Study (HOMS) who completed the eye exercises and vision questionnaire, the convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS) questionnaire, and had a cycloplegic refraction were included in this study.Results121 (14.5 %) students (64 males, 52.9 %) performed the eye exercises of acupoints in school. The multiple odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for those having a “serious attitude” towards performing the eye exercises (0.12, 0.03–0.49) demonstrated a protective effect for myopia, after adjusting for the children’s age, gender, average parental refractive error, and the time spent on near work and outdoor activity. The more frequently, and the more seriously, the students performed the eye exercises each week, the less likely was their chance of being myopic (OR, 95 % CI: 0.17, 0.03–0.99), after adjusting for the same confounders. However, neither the “seriousness of attitude” of performing the eye exercises (multiple β coefficients: -1.58, p = 0.23), nor other related aspects of these eye exercises, were found to be associated with the CISS score in this sample.ConclusionsThe traditional eye exercises of acupoints appeared to have a modest protective effect on myopia among these Chinese rural students aged 6–17 years. However, no association between the eye exercises and near vision symptoms was found.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016