Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Reflexology and Menopause- Can It help?

"Women who take a popular hormone replacement drug after menopause not only increase their chances of getting breast cancer but also seem to face an increased risk of dying from the disease, according to new results of a landmark federal study.'

"The study of more than 12,000 women who were followed for about 11 years produced powerful evidence that deaths from breast cancer were more common among hormone-users, apparently because their cancers had already started to spread." 

Hormones also raise death risk of cancer By Rob Stein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I recently worked on a woman who had experienced hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. I worked on her once and the effects very lasting for months. 

It does not work that way all the time. But the fact that one session could have such a lasting effect makes you wonder if there is an alternative to the risk of hormone replacement therapy. With the risks being this high it seems there should be. 

I am not trying to talk you out of your medication. Heaven forbid. But I think it points to the need for more research on menopause and reflexology. But there is research already available. You be the judge.

Research

Study #1 (UK) Reflexology and foot massage (control group) were applied  in 9 sessions over 19 weeks (once a week for six weeks followed by once a month for three months). 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.” (Comments on results by Sandra Goodman reported at http://positivehealth.com/permit/Updates/rudwomen2.htm) (Williamson J, White A, Hart A, Ernst E., “Randomized controlled trial of reflexology for menopausal symptoms,” British Journal OG, 2002 Sep; 109(9):1050-5)(PMID: 12269681)

Study #2 (Korea) Reflexology was applied twice a week for 6 weeks. Results: Reflexology  “made a statistically significant difference in climateric symptoms as well as fatigue, total cholesterol …". (Lee YM., “Effects of Foot Reflexology Massage on Climacteric Symptom, Fatigue and Physiologic Parameters of Middle Aged Women,” Journal of Korean Academic Nursing 2006 Jun;18(2):284-292)

Study #3 (China) Reflexology was applied daily for 30 minutes over 60 days. Results: 17 (40.48%) of the women had fully recovered (symptoms disappeared with no relapse at 2 months), 20 (47.62%) had significantly recovered (symptoms disappeared with relapse at 2 months but disappeared with more treatment), 4 (9.25%) had effective results (symptoms relieved);1 had ineffective results. (Sun Jianhua, “Observation on the Therapeutic Effect of 82 Cases of Climacterium Syndrome (menopause) Treated with Reflexotherapy,” 1998 China Reflexology Symposium Report, China Reflexology Association, Beijing, pp. 60-61)

In the meantime try out our ebook free of charge for the next three days, See if it helps. 


Kevin Kunz

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