The itchy eyes, congestion, aches, and fatigue symptoms of pollen allergies can be debilitating. Here are some simple acupressure and lymphatic techniques that you can use to relieve your symptoms. Try using a combination of these for five minutes every few hours while your symptoms are at their peak.

To relieve sinus pressure: Place your hands at the junction of the front of your neck and your collarbone. Your fingers will fall into a small hollow on either side of the front of your neck. Use your fingers to lightly press down toward your chest at a rate of about one push per second. Imagine that you are lightly pulling fluid just beneath the surface of the skin toward the heart. This lymphatic drainage move stimulates flow of lymphatic fluid and can pull the fluid down out of the head to relieve sinus pressure.

To drain the sinuses: A good acupressure point to induce drainage of sinuses near the eyes is located at the inner corner of each eyebrow. Put your fingers on the corners of your eyebrows in the upper ridge of the eye socket. Press in toward the bridge of your nose, and let your head relax into your hands to increase the pressure. This point relieves sinus congestion and frontal headaches.

To relieve head congestion and stuffy nose: Put your middle fingers under your cheekbones in line with the pupil of the eye. Feel for a small notch and press up into it. Place your index fingers next to your middle fingers at the side of the nose near the outside corner of each nostril. Press upwards with your fingers into your cheekbones. This will release the sinus areas beneath the eyes and next to the nose. These points relieve head congestion, stuffy nose, eye pressure, nasal congestion, and sinus pain.

To relieve headache and congestion: Just below the base of the skull, there are hollow areas on both sides of the back of the neck. They feel as if they are sitting on a corner of the skull about 2-3 inches apart. Put your fingers in the hollows and press upwards into the base of the skull. This point relieves headaches, congestion, and neck pain.

To relieve chest congestion and coughing: Just beneath the collarbone, there is a hollow that sits next to the breastbone. Press in toward the chest on either side of the breastbone at that junction with the collarbone. This point relieves chest congestion, breathing problems, and coughing.

For many people, acupuncture has proven effective for relieving pollen allergy symptoms. At Massage Therapy Center Palo Alto, Dr. Susan Cheng, LAc offers acupuncture and other Chinese medicine treatments.