Positive Health Online

Abstract

WILLIAMSON and co-workers, School of Complementary Health, Exeter, UK, conducted a randomized controlled trial of reflexology for menopausal women.

Background

Clinical observations suggest that reflexology may be helpful for menopausal women, particularly in the relief of psychological symptoms.

Methodology

76 women presenting with menopausal symptoms were randomized to receive nine sessions of either reflexology or non-specific foot massage over a period of 19 weeks. The Women’s Health Questionnaire (primarily the subscores for anxiety and depression) and the severity and frequency of flushes and night-sweats were measured.

Results

Anxiety and depression scores fell in both groups to between 50% and 70% of baseline values, with a clear time effect but no significant difference between treatment and control groups. Similar changes were found for severity of hot flushes and night sweats.

Conclusion

Reflexology could not be shown to be more effective than non-specific foot massage in relieving menopausal symptoms.

References

Williamson J, White A, Hart A, Ernst E. Randomised controlled Trial of Reflexology for Menopausal Symptoms. BJOG 109 (9): 1050-1055, Sep 2002.

Comment

Jan Williamson Both groups – treatment and control – in this study experienced improvements in psychological symptoms during the menopause. Therefore, the study highlights the beneficial effects which can be achieved by therapies which work on the feet. Research into complementary therapies is sparse and even more so into reflexology in particular. Thus, when studies are undertaken , the focus needs to be on the scientific rigour of the study. However this study does show the problem of devising an appropriate placebo control trial of reflexology. Future studies may benefit from the lessons gained here by avoiding attempts at blinding, eliminating the complication of non-specific effects, perhaps by using a ‘waiting group’ for instance. A six-month follow-up may also have been helpful in order to identify any sustained improvement. Hopefully what this study will do is to initiate further enquiry; emphasis should be placed on the improvement gained by all the women taking part in this study. info@schoolofcomplementaryhealth.co.uk Comment – Sandra Goodman, PhD: It is most unfortunate that the conclusions as written in the above abstract stated that reflexology was not more effective than non-specific foot massage. 99.9% of readers will take this to mean that reflexology was not effective for menopausal symptoms. This is not what really appears to be what happened in this study, which is that foot massage and reflexology both reduced menopausal symptoms of anxiety, depression, hot flushes and night sweats by some 30%-50% of what they were at the outset. The real conclusion of this study is that foot massage is probably not a reliable control procedure for reflexology.