Osteoarthritis and Reflexology

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of foot reflexology on pain and depression of middle-aged women with Osteoarthritis. METHOD: The subjects were 41 osteoarthritis patients resided in the Jinju city from March to May, 2005. The foot reflexology was applied to the experimental group 3 times a week for 4 weeks, 30 minutes eachs. For the data analysis, chi-square-test was conducted to verify the homogeneity of general characteristics, and t-test was done to verify the homogeneity of pain and depression. To examine the relative efficacy of the intervention, t-test, paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA were conducted. RESULTS: After foot reflexology, the subjects in experimental group showed significant improvement in pain (F=155.77, p=.000) and depression (F=20.00, p=.000). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the foot reflexology is effective in relieving of pain and depression. Therefore, it is necessary to develop foot reflexology as an independent nursing intervention.

Oh HS, Ahn SA., “The Effects of Foot Reflexology on Pain and Depression of Middle-aged Women with Osteoarthritis,” Korean J Rehabil Nurs. 2006 Jun;9(1):25-33. Korean.

College of Nursing, Gyeong-Sang National University, JinJu, Gyeongnam, Korea. nhsoh@gshp,gsnu.ac.kr Department of Beauty Design, JinJu International University, JinJu, Gyeongnam, Korea.

Osteoarthritis joint pain

In the U.S., 1 of every 3 people is affected by painful arthritis (CDC and Prevention, 2002). Arthritic medications have caused adverse reactions e.g. Vioxx recall (U.S. FDA, 2005) and others may have adverse effects when used long-term. These effects may be minimized by adjuvant nonpharmacological modalities, such as reflexology, a complementary therapy. Reflexology is a noninvasive technique of applying topical pressure to specific points on the feet thought to represent somatic organs. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of foot reflexology on self-reported osteoarthritis joint pain. The hypothesis was that participants with joint pain who received reflexology would have less pain after treatment than those receiving a placebo massage or control condition. The effect may be explained by the gate control theory. A power analysis was calculated using G*Power® software computer program (Faul & Erdfelder, 1992) with .99 Ρ lower for the parameters of alpha = .05, with a large ES of 1.0408. A convenience sample (N = 119) were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 41 treatment-foot reflexology, n = 39 placebo-foot massage, and n = 39 control-arthritis information) for the experimental pretest-posttest controlled clinical trial. 

Pain was measured before and after the 15-minute intervention with the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire. A limitation was the researcher administering all interventions and questionnaires. Multiple regression was used to analyze the hypothesis. The groups receiving either reflexology or massage had significantly less posttest pain than those receiving arthritis information. 

Reflexology, however, did not statistically result in less pain than massage. Clinical effect was found in the reflexology group who had 8 to 18% improvement (less pain on all pain scales), compared with those in the massage group. The results generated knowledge for research, education, and practice regarding adjuncts for joint pain relief. Laree J Schoolmeesters PhD, RN, "The Effect of Reflexology on Self-Reported Joint Pain," Southern Nursing Research Society Proceedings: 2007 Annual Conference , Feb 22, 2007 (9 Melrose Court Columbia, SC 29229 USA Email: bestrnteacher@yahoo.com  University of South Carolina) 

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