Is There an Acupressure Point to Stop Coughing?

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Death, taxes…and nagging coughs. Ah, the unavoidables in life. Little more is annoying than the incessant cough, whether it’s your own or that of your children (and it always seems worse at night, right?).

From lozenges to cough syrup, local honey to warm salt water, you likely pull out all the stops when a cough strikes and won’t go away.

But one little-known remedy that we bet you haven’t tried is auricular acupressure. If we’re wrong, send us an email and let us know you’re one step ahead of us. If we’re right, read on because this article is for you — and by the end we bet we can even convince you that you should purchase some ear seeds to add to your medicine cabinet.

What is auricular acupressure?

“Auricular” is a term that means “relating to the ear,” and acupressure is the practice of applying pressure to specific points as a therapeutic intervention. In contrast to acupuncture, which uses needles, acupressure is needle-free and non-invasive.

In place of needles, a common acupressure tool or device is the ear seed, which is growing in popularity in the West. But ear seeds (which originated as actual seeds taped to the skin) have been using in Traditional Chinese Medicine for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. So they’re not new, by any means…maybe just new to you!

Most important, auricular acupressure using ear seeds checks off some important boxes. As a purpose-driven business, integrity is huge for us, so it was non-negotiable that ear seeds met these criteria:

• Evidence-based, with ample scientific, peer-reviewed research studies to support their effectiveness
• Safe, with minimal side effects and risks
• Accessible and easy to apply by oneself
• Inexpensive, so that people from all walks of life can partake in the supportive benefits of the ear seeds

Auriculo 360’s “acupressure point to stop coughing” protocol

Auriculo 360 is the leading app in finding the exact auriculotherapy points to use for whatever condition or symptom you’re trying to alleviate. This technology is used by acupuncture and acupressure providers, but it’s simple and accessible enough that anyone can easily use it.

Not only does Auriculo 360 show you the points and protocols on a 3-dimensional ear that you can rotate, expand, and shrink with the touch of your fingers, it goes into depth on the conditions, symptoms, points, and protocols.

Here’s a summary of their acupressure point to stop coughing protocol.

Primary ear acupressure points for cough relief

See the points in GREEN in the 3D ear seed chart below.

• Adrenal Gland.C
• Adrenal Gland.E
• Antihistamine
• Asthma
• Lung 1
• Lung 2
• Throat.C
• Throat.E

Secondary ear acupressure points for cough relief

See the points in WHITE in the 3D ear seed chart below.

• Occiput
• Point Zero
• Shen Men
• Spleen.C
• Spleen.E
• Sympathetic Autonomic Point
• Trachea

Dr. Mario Wexu’s “acupressure point to stop coughing” protocol

Drawing from similar Chinese-European frameworks but taking a slightly different perspective on primary versus secondary auricular acupressure points is Mario Wexu, D. AC., renowned acupuncturist and author of The Ear: Gateway to Balancing the Body, a Modern Guide to Ear Acupuncture.

As noted in his book, he breaks his recommended auricular acupressure points into two categories based on the type of cough.

Acupressure points for acute cough relief

• Primary points: Ping Chuan, Shen Men, Lung
• Secondary points: Occiput, Windpipe, Adrenal Gland

Acupressure points for chronic cough relief

• Primary points: Shen Men, Ping Chuan, Windpipe, Lung, Sympathetic
• Secondary points: Occiput, Adrenal Gland

As you can see, there’s overlap between the Auriculo 360 acupressure point to stop coughing system and Dr. Wexu’s directive. If, based on this information, knowing where to ear seed for cough relief feels a bit overwhelming, start off with the green points in the ear graphic above.

As you get more familiar and adept at ear seeding, you’ll start to learn what works for your unique body, and what doesn’t. When in doubt, start with the Shen Men point, which happens to be listed as a primary point in Dr. Wexu’s book for both acute and chronic cough relief. You can’t go wrong with seeding the Shen Men point. (Piercing the Shen Men is another story, however.)

A note from My Ear Seeds Founder & CEO Kaci

Cough associated with ear infections is something we know all too well about with our middle child, who’s now five. We are crossing our fingers in hopes that his immune system is becoming stronger and he’s outgrowing the issues that very young children disproportionately experience as their immunity develops.

We haven’t yet tried the ear seeds with our son for cough relief. Thankfully, we haven’t needed to for several months because he’s been in generally good health.

Now that he’s a bit older, though, as we head into that time of year where sickness is more prevalent, we’ll keep ear seeds as a back-pocket option in an attempt to calm the coughing. We’ll be happy to report the results if and when we use the ear seeds with him for that purpose.

To sum it up

If you started with the question, “Is there an acupressure point to stop coughing?” we hope you learned that there’s not just one but several points, and we’re just talking about on the ear! Although you can apply pressure with your finger or another type of device, we recommend ear seeds, which you can buy here.

Don’t let that cough get the better of you! Try ear seeds for yourself. And hurry, so you can, we hope, get back to your best, thriving, and cough-free self.

Disclaimer: As with any new health protocol, be sure to discuss ear seeds with your healthcare provider before starting to use them for therapeutic purposes. Also, a cough may be harmless, or it might be a symptom of something more serious, so don’t delay in seeing someone who can properly diagnose and treat the root cause. We believe in using ear seeds as a complementary therapy to help support the body’s natural healing processes.

Happy seeding!