Your hand contains several pressure points used in acupressure and reflexology, concentrated in the fleshy areas between your fingers, along the base of your thumb, and at specific spots on your wrist and palm. Pressing these points is believed to relieve headaches, tension, nausea, and pain in other parts of the body. Here’s where to find each one and what it’s used for.
The Webbing Between Thumb and Index Finger
The most well-known hand pressure point sits in the thick, fleshy area between your thumb and index finger. In traditional Chinese medicine, this point is called Large Intestine 4 (LI4), sometimes referred to as “Hegu” or “Union Valley.” To find it, squeeze your thumb against your index finger and look for the highest point of the muscle that bulges up. That’s the spot.
LI4 is one of the most widely studied acupressure points. Pressing it firmly for one to two minutes is commonly used to relieve headaches, toothaches, neck pain, and general tension. Some research suggests it may also help with nausea and stress. It’s the go-to point that acupressure practitioners reach for first, partly because it’s easy to access on yourself and partly because it has a broad range of reported effects. Pregnant women are typically advised to avoid stimulating this point, as it has traditionally been associated with inducing labor contractions.
Base of the Thumb
Run your finger along the outside edge of your thumb down toward your wrist. Where the thumb muscle meets the wrist crease, you’ll find a point called Lung 7 (LQ7), or “Lieque.” It sits in the small depression just above the wrist bone on the thumb side. This point is associated with respiratory relief, including coughs, sore throats, and nasal congestion. Pressing here with moderate pressure for about a minute on each hand is the standard technique.
Slightly different from Lung 7, the fleshy pad at the base of your thumb on the palm side corresponds to what reflexologists call the “thenar eminence.” In reflexology maps, this area is linked to the chest, lungs, and heart. Kneading this padded area with the opposite thumb using a circular motion is a common self-massage technique for general relaxation.
The Center of Your Palm
Make a loose fist. The spot where your middle finger touches your palm is a pressure point called Pericardium 8 (PC8), or “Laogong.” It sits right in the center of your palm between the second and third metacarpal bones. This point is primarily associated with calming anxiety, reducing stress, and easing heart palpitations. Some people press it with the opposite thumb during moments of acute stress or before sleep, holding firm pressure for 30 seconds to a minute.
The Inner Wrist
Two important pressure points sit on the inner side of your wrist. The first, Pericardium 6 (PC6) or “Neiguan,” is located about two finger-widths below your wrist crease, centered between the two tendons you can feel when you flex your wrist. This is the point targeted by anti-nausea wristbands. It has more clinical research behind it than most acupressure points, with multiple studies showing it can reduce nausea from motion sickness, surgery recovery, and morning sickness during pregnancy.
The second wrist point, Heart 7 (HT7) or “Shenmen,” sits at the wrist crease itself, on the pinky side, in the small hollow next to the tendon. It’s used for insomnia, anxiety, and emotional agitation. Applying gentle, sustained pressure here before bed is a technique some people find helpful for winding down.
Between the Finger Bones
The spaces between each of your finger bones on the back of your hand contain a series of smaller pressure points. These sit in the grooves between the metacarpal bones, roughly halfway between your knuckles and your wrist. You can find them by pressing the tip of your opposite index finger into each groove and sliding until you feel a tender, slightly indented spot.
In acupressure, these points (called “Baxie” as a group) are used for finger stiffness, hand pain, and swelling. People with arthritis or repetitive strain sometimes find that pressing these points and then gently spreading the fingers apart offers temporary relief. The tenderness you feel when pressing these spots is normal and actually helps you confirm you’ve found the right location.
The Pinky Side of the Hand
The outer edge of your hand below the pinky finger has a pressure point called Small Intestine 3 (SI3), or “Houxi.” To locate it, make a loose fist and look for the crease that forms at the edge of your hand just below the pinky knuckle. The point sits at the end of that crease, right where the skin changes color between the palm and back of the hand. This point is associated with neck stiffness, upper back pain, and headaches that radiate from the back of the skull.
How to Apply Pressure Effectively
Finding the points is half the work. The other half is using the right amount of pressure. You want to press firmly enough that you feel a deep, dull ache or a sensation of mild tenderness, but not so hard that it causes sharp pain. Use the pad of your thumb or the tip of your index finger rather than your nail. Hold steady pressure for 30 seconds to two minutes per point, breathing slowly while you do it.
Small circular motions can be more effective than static pressure for some points, especially the broader areas like the base of the thumb and the spaces between finger bones. Work both hands, as practitioners generally recommend stimulating points bilaterally for the best effect. You can repeat several times a day as needed.
The intensity of sensation varies between points and between people. The LI4 point in the thumb webbing tends to feel quite strong even with moderate pressure, while the palm center point may require deeper pressure to notice anything. If a point feels unusually painful or causes numbness or tingling that radiates down your fingers, ease off. Mild soreness after a session is common, similar to what you’d feel after a deep tissue massage.
What the Evidence Shows
Acupressure research is mixed but growing. The strongest evidence exists for the PC6 wrist point for nausea, where multiple controlled trials have shown measurable benefits compared to placebo. The LI4 point for headache and pain relief also has supportive research, though study quality varies. For many of the other hand points, evidence is largely based on traditional practice and smaller studies rather than large clinical trials.
What is well established is that firm pressure on soft tissue triggers real physiological responses: increased local blood flow, release of the body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals, and activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” mode that counteracts stress). Whether these effects work through the specific meridian pathways described in traditional Chinese medicine or through more general mechanisms of touch and pressure remains an open question. Either way, hand acupressure carries essentially no risk and takes only a few minutes, which makes it a reasonable tool to try for common complaints like headaches, nausea, and stress.