The Physiological and Biochemical Outcomes Associated with a Reflexology Treatment: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background. Reflexology is one of the top forms of complementary and alternative medicine in the UK and is used for healthcare by a diverse range of people. However, it is offered by few healthcare providers as little scientific evidence is available explaining how it works or any health benefits it may confer. The aim of this review was to assess the current evidence available from reflexology randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that have investigated changes in physiological or biochemical outcomes. Methods. Guidelines from the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews of Interventions were followed: the following databases were searched from inception to December 2013: AMED, CAM Quest, CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Medline Ovid, Proquest, and Pubmed. Risk of bias was assessed independently by two members of the review team and overall strength of the evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation guidelines. Results. Seventeen eligible RCTs met all inclusion criteria. A total of 34 objective outcome measures were analysed. Although twelve studies showed significant changes within the reflexology group, only three studies investigating blood pressure, cardiac index, and salivary amylase resulted in significant between group changes in favour of reflexology. The overall quality of the studies was low.

Fasciatherapy and Reflexology compared to Hypnosis and Music Therapy in Daily Stress Management

“…Like Fs, Rf has a status of evidence in stress management, shown to be useful for relaxation, stress reduction, or anxiety relief. (17) The level of evidence results in methodologic (18) and basic research, (19) and in both qualitative (20,21) and quantitative clinical trials. But the latter, contributing to the edification of arguments, focused interest on stress and anxiety in seriously ill people.…”

Influence of Study Design on Outcomes Following Reflexology Massage: An Integrative and Critical Review of Interventional Studies

“…That finding provides some support for a published review 4 of RCTs that had a narrow clinical focus (setting) in which reflexology was found to significantly affect fatigue, sleep, and pain outcomes, and also published evidence for an acute reduction of perceived psychological stress following reflexology that is reproducible with repeat treatments. 21 There is also some literature evidence 21,22 for effect of reflexology on systolic/diastolic blood pressure and heart rate when this is specifically related to the stress response, but in this review no evidence was found to associate biometric responses with any particular measure. Present and related findings therefore support expressed views 1,2,3,5 that less heterogeneity of pathologies and study objectives would aid interpretation of clinical outcomes of reflexology.…”

A pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) investigating the effectiveness of reflexology for managing pregnancy low back and/or pelvic pain

“…For a future trial, the use of sham reflexology may be a more appropriate sham treatment, as it may be easier to blind participants and attrition rates in reflexology studies employing sham reflexology have been acceptable [28]. However, a recent reflexology review highlights that finding an appropriate sham treatment for reflexology without stimulating the feet reflexes may be challenging as even light pressure on the feet may stimulate the reflexes [29]. Several studies using sham reflexology as a comparator for true reflexology found positive effects of both treatments, or smaller differences between groups [24,28], supporting the theory that it is difficult to work with the feet without stimulating the reflexes.…”