Eye exercises of acupoints: their impact on refractive error and visual symptoms in Chinese urban children

Abstract

BackgroundTraditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints involve acupoint self-massage. These have been advocated as a compulsory measure to reduce ocular fatigue, as well as to retard the development of myopia, among Chinese school children. This study evaluated the impact of these eye exercises among Chinese urban children.Methods409 children (195 males, 47.7%), aged 11.1 ± 3.2 (range 6–17) years, from the Beijing Myopia Progression Study (BMPS) were recruited. All had completed the eye exercise questionnaire, the convergence insufficiency symptom survey (CISS), and a cycloplegic autorefraction. Among these, 395 (96.6%) performed the eye exercises of acupoints. Multiple logistic regressions for myopia and multiple linear regressions for the CISS score (after adjusting for age, gender, average parental refractive error, and time spent doing near work and outdoor activity) for the different items of the eye exercises questionnaire were performed.ResultsOnly the univariate odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for “seriousness of attitude” towards performing the eye exercises of acupoints (0.51, 0.33-0.78) showed a protective effect towards myopia. However, none of the odds ratios were significant after adjusting for the confounding factors. The univariate and multiple β coefficients for the CISS score were -2.47 (p = 0.002) and -1.65 (p = 0.039), -3.57 (p = 0.002) and -2.35 (p = 0.042), and -2.40 (p = 0.003) and -2.29 (p = 0.004), for attitude, speed of exercise, and acquaintance with acupoints, respectively, which were all significant.ConclusionsThe traditional Chinese eye exercises of acupoints appeared to have a modest effect on relieving near vision symptoms among Chinese urban children aged 6 to 17 years. However, no remarkable effect on reducing myopia was observed.

The effect of eye exercises on visual acuity and refractive error of myopics

“…al. on the impact of eye exercises of acupoints on the refractive error and visual symptoms in Chinese urban children proved to have a modest effect in relieving near vision symptoms, with no effect on reducing myopia [16] , which goes in hand with the results of current study of no significant improvement in reducing Myopia.…”

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

“…There were several interesting and important findings in this study, which differed from our Chinese urban study [1]. First, although the eye exercises of acupoints were compulsory in all Chinese school children, only approximately 15 % of the rural students actually performed them in school, much less than the 96.6 % among the urban students [1].…”

“…Myopia was defined as SE ≤ -0.50D [1, 7]. Parental refractive error was defined as the average of the non-cycloplegic SE of each eye of the father and mother combined.…”

Chinese Eye Exercises and Myopia Development in School Age Children: A Nested Case-control Study

“…A retrospective study reported that Chinese eye exercises have a modest effect on relieving near vision symptoms but no remarkable effect on reducing myopia16. Some cross-sectional studies have found different associations of myopia prevalence with eye exercises1718.…”