Product Review: Aculief

Aculief is a wearable acupressure device that aims to relieve tension and restore the body's natural energy flow. I've had so many people who hear about my headaches tell me to squeeze the webbed area between my thumb and forefinger; Aculief does that for you. It applies pressure to the LI4 meridian, an acupressure point that has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine for pain relief. I was provided with free samples, so I decided to give it a try.

"But it's bright green!" you may say...I actually kinda like that. You don't have to wear it for a set amount of time, but I wanted to give it a good test so a few times I wore it most of the day, and I liked explaining what it is to people because it helps raise awareness for chronic headaches and migraines. Also, it was a very clear way to inform my husband that my head hurt without having to tell him (sometimes he gets tired of hearing about it and I don't blame him one bit).

A few more positive things before I go into the negatives:

• It's portable
• It's something drug-free to try (always a good thing)
• It's easy - just clip it on
• It doesn't really hurt your hand, you just feel pressure
• The packaging is gorgeous (coming from a graphic design student)

And on to the negatives:

• It didn't work for my headaches...maybe it helped a few of them but it could have been me wanting it to work. I can't say whether or not it helped relieve tension, since I was more focused on my head pain
• My dad and a friend tried it, and it didn't help them either
• According to the website it costs $29.99 which seems like a lot for something so small, but then again if it works, it's cheaper than being on medication
• It stretches a little after you use it a few times, but it still stays clipped on
• When you take it off you'll notice it leaves a mark, but that's not really a big deal to me

So should you buy one? Personally I'd try squeezing the acupressure spot next time you get a headache to see if it seems to help, and if it does, then you might want to give Aculief a try. Unfortunately it didn't help me, but as I always say - and it's the truth - everyone's different, so something that may not work for me may work for you.

By the way, I have a few more of these so if you live in the Raleigh-Durham area, I'd be happy to meet you somewhere and give you one. Just send me an email (waronheadaches@blogspot.com).

Disclosure: Aculief provided me free products in exchange for me writing this review. Both parties agreed that the review would be unbiased.