Scientific validation of reflexology requires an in-depth and noninvasive evaluation of "reflexology/reflex areas" in health and disease. The present paper reports the differential properties of "normal" and "abnormal" reflexology areas related to the lumbar vertebrae in a subject suffering from low back pain. The pathology is supported by radiological evidence. The reflexology target regions w...

OBJECTIVE This experimental, repeated-measures, crossover design study with nursing home residents examined the efficacy of reflexology in individuals with mild-to-moderate stage dementia. Specifically, the study tested whether a weekly reflexology intervention contributed to the resident outcomes of reduced physiologic distress, reduced pain, and improved affect. SETTING The study was conduc...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of foot reflexology on fatigue, sleep and pain. METHODS A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted. Electronic database and manual searches were conducted on all published studies reporting the effects of foot reflexology on fatigue, sleep, and pain. Forty four studies were eligible including 15 studies associated w...

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES To compare the effects of partner-delivered foot reflexology and usual care plus attention on patients' perceived pain and anxiety. DESIGN The experimental pretest/post-test design included patient-partner dyads randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. SETTING Four hospitals in the southeastern United States. SAMPLE 42 experimental and 44 control subjects ...

Objective. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate and compare the effects of reflexology and Swedish massage therapy on physiologic stress, pain, and mood in older cancer survivors residing in nursing homes. Methods. An experimental, repeated-measures, crossover design study of 18 nursing home residents aged 75 or over and diagnosed with solid tumor in the past 5 years and following...

UNLABELLED Reflexologists claim that massage to specific points of the feet increases blood supply to internal organs. This study measured changes in cardiovascular parameters in subjects receiving reflexology to areas of their feet thought to correspond to the heart (intervention) compared with other areas which are not (control). METHOD 16 reflexology-naive healthy volunteers received an ac...

OBJECTIVES To explore the efficacy of reflexology on acute pain induced in healthy human subjects using a sham TENS control. DESIGN An ice-pain experiment was undertaken in which the volunteers (n = 15; 11 female and 4 male with a mean ± SEM age of 37.7 ± 2.6 years) were required to immerse their non-dominant hand in a container of ice-slurry whilst two indices of pain, i.e. threshold, (the t...

BACKGROUND Reflexology is an ancient, mild and non-invasive technique, used widely as one of the non-pharmacological methods for pain relief. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of reflexology on pain intensity as well as to determine the duration of labor in primiparas. METHODS In 2008, a randomized clinical trial study was conducted randomly enrolling 120 parturient women w...

Purpose Reflexology is one of the top six complementary therapies used in the UK. Reflexologists claim that massage to specific points of the feet increases blood supply to referred or ‘mapped’ organs in the body. Empirical evidence to validate this claim is scarce. This three-phase study measured changes in cardiovascular parameters in subjects receiving reflexology treatment applied to specif...

Background. The restricted usage of existing pharmacological methods which do not seem to provide the treatment of diabetic neuropathy may lead to exploring the efficacy of a complementary therapy. In this context, this paper was devoted to evaluate the efficacy of foot reflexology. This health science works on the hypothesis that the dysfunctional states of body parts could be identified by ob...