As a Chinese Reflexology teacher, I wanted to share the most effective reflexology and acupressure points with you for sinus pain and congestion.
Learn the best pressure points to clear blocked sinuses naturally, and help you breathe easier for fast relief. You’ll also learn the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective and the mind-body connection on what causes chronic sinus issues. These powerful insights can help you clear things even faster.
Winter Break Sinus Headaches
Recently, my son caught a nasty cold during winter break. After he recovered from the cold, he started experiencing a recurring headache. He felt fine in the morning, the headache would appear in the afternoon, and then peak in the evening. He didn’t mention it at first. Maybe he didn’t want to be told, “No video games if you’ve got a headache.”
Initially, I thought it was just a headache, but the 4 Chinese Reflexology points for a headache only helped temporarily. When my son described that the pain was located mostly behind his eyes, it occurred to me that he might have sinusitis, given that he had just gotten over a serious cold.
As a result, I showed him how he could do his own sinus clearing massage. My goal was to empower him to manage his own health, much like I do with you—my readers and students.
It’s better to teach you how to fish than to give you fish.
I also remembered that we had a bottle of secret Chinese herbal formula given to me by a friend who is a Shaolin monk and warrior. I didn’t think I’d ever need it, but who’s going to turn down a secret formula from a Shaolin warrior? Since the herbal formula was for acute sinus congestion, it seemed like this was the time to try it.
After a couple of sprays of the herbal formula, and my son massaging his sinus points three times a day, his sinus headache completely disappeared. He woke up in the morning feeling 100% and the headache never came back. Yay!
Since most people don’t have a secret Chinese herbal formula given to them by a Shaolin monk sitting around in the cupboard, I wanted to share reflexology points—and the best acupuncture point—for clearing sinus congestion, sinusitis, sinus headaches, and eliminating overall stuffiness in your nasal area.
But before I share these points with you, let’s look at the Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective on sinus issues. When you understand the imbalances behind why your sinuses are blocked, it helps you restore balance in your body and optimize your health. TCM theory is especially helpful if you suffer from chronic sinus issues or inflammation of the sinuses.
Chinese Medicine (TCM) View on Sinus Issues
Unlike Western medicine, the Traditional Chinese Medicine approach is to look at the body as a whole, and to look beyond the body. That means looking at qi, which is one’s life force energy. Before physical issues arise, there’s usually something going on at the energy level.
Sinus Congestion
Anytime there’s any type of block in the body, it’s a sign that qi is not flowing as it should through the area. Because there’s an energy block in the sinuses, this can lead to the accumulation of fluids (aka mucus and phlegm) that cause pressure, pain, and congestion.
That’s because the qi is supposed to help move and clear these physical substances in the body. It’s like the energy that powers the train to haul away mini cars of phlegm in the body.
Sinus Inflammation
Sinusitis is the inflammation of the sinuses. Anytime there’s inflammation, Chinese Medicine considers it an imbalance where there’s too much heat in the body. Even the word, inflammation implies inflamed or heat.
Another interesting concept is that when qi is blocked, it can cause heat to form in the body. Think of this concept like the gears of a motor getting jammed. If a wrench gets thrown in the gears, the motor can quickly overheat.
Clearing Sinuses the TCM Way
The way to clear your sinuses from a Chinese Medicine approach is to improve the flow of qi through the sinuses to help unblock them. You also want to clear excess heat and excess dampness from the body—not just your sinuses. The overall systemic imbalance can exacerbate and prolong the sinus problem.
Traditional Chinese herbal formulas are very effective for purging excess heat and dampness. However, I strongly recommend that people should not self-prescribe herbal formulas because the ones for purging heat can be dangerous and harmful to your health if they are unsuitable for your body constitution or what’s going on from a TCM perspective. I recommend always seeing a licensed acupuncturist or Chinese herbal expert to get Chinese herbs.
However, you can make changes to your diet to support healing. I forbid my son from eating hot sauce (excess heat), sugar, and dairy products while he was recovering. Chinese Medicine believes that sugar and dairy promote dampness in the body, so you definitely want to avoid these if you’ve got a cold. Introducing foods that have a hot or dry nature in the body will also exacerbate an imbalance of excess heat.
There are additional foods to watch out for (and foods that can be beneficial), but it would be way too much to cover in a single blog article. I would probably have to write an entire book to explain everything. Fortunately, I did teach a workshop on Chinese Medicine Food Therapy in the Sole Circle, my online wellness community.
Since it wasn’t an intermediate or advanced level course (those are exclusive to Sole Circle members), you’ll find it available for sale on my website soon. When it’s ready, I’ll announce it in my newsletter.
Chinese Reflexology Point for Sinuses
If you’ve got blocked sinuses, practicing Chinese Reflexology for sinus congestion will help get the qi flowing through your sinus cavities. This helps to disperse the mucus, and also clear energy blocks that may be contributing to the inflammation.
If you’re also dealing a sinus headache, then it’s especially important to enhance the flow of qi through your sinuses. In TCM, there’s a saying, “Where there’s pain, there’s no movement. Where there’s movement, there’s no pain.” Massaging the sinus point helps get qi moving through the nasal area, and this is what makes reflexology for sinus pain so effective.
Location: To locate the sinus point on your feet, take a look at the bottom your big toe. The reflexology point is located at the tip of the toe pad.
How to massage: To massage this point, pinch your big toe with your thumb and index finger so that your thumb pad is pressing on the toe pad. Massage with a side-to-side motion perpendicular to your toe. I recommend pressing with the same amount of pressure that you’d use to crush dried oregano, which happens to be especially crunchy oregano. Go ahead and try this for about 3 to 5 seconds on each of your toe pads. Then move on to learn the next point.
Chinese Reflexology Hand Point for Sinuses
Since it’s not always convenient to rub your feet, in addition to the Chinese foot reflexology point for sinuses, I wanted to share the hand point with you.
Location: For hand reflexology, the thumb is similar to the big toe on your foot. As a result, you’ll find the hand reflexology sinus point on the tip of your thumb pad. There’s a sinus points on both the left and right thumb tips.
How to massage: Place one thumb perpendicular to the other thumb on the tip, and then massage side-to-side. Basically, you’re massaging back and forth from the inside of the thumb to the outside. Use a firm pressure, like crushing a crumbly oregano, or what you’d use to wash off a pen mark on your hand. Go ahead and give this a try for 3 to 5 seconds per thumb to get a feel for the technique.
Large Intestine LI 20 (Yingxiang)
There’s a ton of information online about acupressure points for clearing congested sinuses. While you can find these articles on credible health sites, the writers often have no training in acupuncture or Traditional Chinese Medicine.
I came across one article that listed close to a dozen acupuncture points for sinusitis. It was almost as if they took a handful of confetti, tossed it across a person’s face, and any bits of paper that landed near the nose and sinuses got included in the article as sinus pain relief pressure points.
But did you know in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the acupuncturist who uses fewer points is considered to be the more skilled practitioner?
Since it can be slightly uncomfortable to get acupuncture, nobody wants to get dozens of needles stuck into their bodies, especially around their nose and face. Aside from this customer service issue, what’s more important for a highly skilled acupuncturist is the selection of which points to stimulate.
Even though there may be dozens of points that can address a specific health concern, there are certain acupuncture points that are much more potent and effective.
I was blessed to learn from a fifth generation Chinese Medicine doctor whose father was a famous and revered TCM doctor in China. She was my professor for the first course I ever took on acupuncture points. In contrast, when I took the follow-up course covering the remaining acupuncture points, I had a young teacher who had only studied in Western schools.
There was a big difference in what I learned form the fifth generation Master Acupuncturist vs. the Western-only trained teacher.
The young teacher covered every single acupuncture point by following the list of points in the textbook. The Master Acupuncturist covered each point, but she also drew attention to which were the most effective points. That was the gold!
For example, if she were to talk about clearing nasal and sinus congestion, she might say something like, “The book says this point is good for sinuses, but in practice, we don’t use it. That’s because this point is much better.”
She was someone I admired greatly, and had the opportunity to get to know on a personal level, which is why I also strive to share the most effective information with my students and readers. When you’re not inundated with tons of information (especially when some of it is not that effective), you’re much more likely to put what you learn into practice. I focus on quality over quantity.
There’s no point (bad pun intended) in pressing a dozen acupressure points for sinus congestion, when there’s one point that’s exceptional.
So, drumroll please…
The acupressure point I recommend for blocked sinuses is Large Intestine 20. You might also see this written as LI-20, or it’s Chinese name, Yingxiang, which translates as “Welcome fragrance.” The name alone speaks volumes to its effectiveness.
Location: Large Intestine 20 is located at the base of your nose, beside each nostril. Find it by feeling for a slight indentation at the base of your nose beside each nostril.
How to massage: Use both your left and right index fingers to simultaneously press on either side of your nostrils. Press firmly, but gently, and hold for 3 to 5 seconds to get a feel for the location of this sinus clearing point to welcome fragrance!
Here’s a Sinus Massage Routine for You
1) Acupuncture Point for Sinuses (Large Intestine 20):
Press and hold on either side of your nostrils for 30 to 60 seconds every day.
2) Foot Sinus Reflexology Point
Massage the foot sinus point for 30 to 60 seconds on each of your big toes, 3x a day until the symptoms abate. Spread out the massages over the course of the day (e.g. once in morning, afternoon, and evening).
Massage daily for a maximum of 2 weeks. Then STOP the daily massage. You don’t want to massage points daily for longer than two weeks because then you’ll be over-massaging the point, which can cause other issues that are counter to healing.
Since we’re on the topic of precautions, I also highly recommend seeing your health practitioner if your symptoms are serious or don’t get better. You want to rule out anything serious. In addition, for people who have weak overall qi, this routine may be less effective.
Think of it like sending a bunch of couch potato computer geeks to play flag football against a group of lifelong athletes. The geek team needs to get stronger in order to play effectively. Yes, there’s a story here!
When I was working in high tech, I was part of the company flag football team comprised of people who spent way too much time on computers. Needless to say, we didn’t win a single flag football game all season. BTW, I self-identify as a geek, and I wear this badge proudly!
3) Hand Sinus Reflexology Point
The hand point can be massaged throughout the day using what I refer to as the “here and there” method. The hand points aren’t as strong or effective as the foot points, so think of the hand sinus point as icing on the cake to give an extra qi boost here and there throughout the day.
Massage for 5 seconds, 3 to 4 times a day, in between the acupressure and foot massage for sinus congestion. Don’t press too hard or massage too much because the hands are much more delicate than your feet.
One More Thing: Facial Massage for Sinuses
If you have chronic sinus issues, there’s a Chinese style of massage that helps improve the flow of qi in your face and throughout your entire body. It’s also a technique that you can practice every day because it’s fun!
I’ll be joining forces with my friend, David Wei, who is a martial arts expert to introduce readers to this powerful self-massage technique for optimizing your health. Follow my newsletter to learn when we’ll be hosting this free class! By the way, David is not the Shaolin warrior friend I mentioned earlier. But coincidentally, David has also given me a bottle of secret Chinese herbal tonic. I guess I’m just fortunate that way :).
Mind-Body Connection for Sinuses
If you suffer from chronic sinusitis, this one section here might be the most important part of the article for you. Almost every imbalance in a previously healthy body has an emotional root.
Western medicine only looks at the effects of stress on the body, but Traditional Chinese Medicine has a rich history of linking emotions to the body’s essential organs and energy meridians.
In a nutshell, negative emotions disrupt the flow of qi in your body. I believe that where you hold these emotions creates the Achilles’ heel in your body in terms of health. Where the emotions are stuck is the area most susceptible to physical issues, especially if you’ve been holding these feelings inside for years or decades.
One book that I particularly like for explaining mind-body connection is The Secret Language of Your Body by Inna Siegel.
She says sinus issues are related to feeling irritated, frustrated with other people, and needing your own space. She also writes that contributing factors include difficulty standing up for yourself and saying what you believe, feeling pulled in different directions with too much going on, and thinking too much rather than tuning in to your Divine Wisdom.
Other books I recommend are, You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, and Messages from the Body: Their Psychological Meaning by Michael J Lincoln. Dr. Lincoln’s book is better suited for practitioners rather than the average person. His insights are presented very clinically without any sugarcoating, so some people feel worse about their condition after reading what he has to say. Plus, it’s a really expensive book!
Please note that the book links are Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission, which helps support this blog and all the free content available. Thank you for your support!
If you’re curious to explore more about the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and your health, check out my, Hear Your Body’s Messages course available in my online learning center. In the course, you’ll connect with your soul’s wisdom to hear messages from your body that will help you shift your thoughts and change your life, for healing, and improved health and vitality.
Summing It All Up for Clear Sinuses
In conclusion, if you’ve got sinus congestion or pain and want to clear it with reflexology and acupressure, massage the points in this article daily for up to two weeks, or until your symptoms get better. And if you have chronic sinus issues, look for ways to clear the energetics surrounding the emotions related to sinus issues.
And if this article on the best Chinese Reflexology and acupressure points for clearing sinus congestion was helpful for you, please share it with friends and family using one of the sharing buttons at the bottom of this page. Your support helps people get great information (created with love by me) on how to get natural relief for sinusitis and sinus congestion with reflexology and acupressure.
