04/02/2024
From our own experience in practice , we know how effective reflexology really is to alleviate pain, improve fatigue and significantly improve the quality of life on the people we have the privilege to treat.
Nevertheless it is good to read that the results of a systematic review published in BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies.
Published: 11 January 2024
Investigators from Jena University Hospital in Germany searched 5 databases in March 2022 for relevant studies evaluating the effectiveness of reflexology in treating pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression and to improve quality of life (QOL) in patients with cancer, compared with passive controls.”
Abstract
Background
As cancer and its therapy comes with a wide range of negative effects, people look for options to mitigate these effects. Reflexology is among the options of complementary medicine.
Method
In March 2022 a systematic search was conducted searching five electronic databases (Embase, Cochrane, PsychInfo, CINAHL and Medline) to find studies concerning the use, effectiveness and potential harm of reflexology on cancer patients.
Results
From all 821 search results, 29 publications concerning 26 studies with 2465 patients were included in this systematic review. The patients treated with reflexology were mainly diagnosed with breast, lung, gastrointestinal and hematological cancer. Outcomes were mainly pain, quality of life, anxiety, depression, fatigue. The studies had moderate to low quality and reported heterogeneous results: Some studies reported significant improvements in above mentioned outcomes while other studies did not find any changes concerning these endpoints.
Conclusion
Due to the very heterogeneous results and methodical limitations of the included studies, a clear statement regarding the effectiveness of reflexology on cancer patients is not possible. The current evidence indicates that reflexology is superior to passive control groups for pain, quality of life and fatigue, however, more studies with comparable active control groups are needed.
Link to review 🔗 https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-023-04220-4
