Baby Brains and Foot Reflexology

 

Baby Brains and Foot Reflexology 

An apple a day keeps the doctor away or so the saying goes. But what happens to a young baby who receives foot reflexology almost every day? The answer: enhanced activation in parts of the brain. 

That’s the conclusion of researchers who followed an infant’s progress with fMRI brain scans in a recently reported case study. While researchers were testing for improvements in hearing for a limited application of reflexology, they found activation in parts of the brain (see below) were enhanced for the infant receiving foot reflexology compared to infants who did not. 

An infant was diagnosed with hearing impairment, sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), at three months of age. Chinese researchers used fMRI brain scans to follow the progress of the infant who received 30 minutes of reflexology applied to both big toes, five days a week for 24 weeks. At the conclusion of the study the baby at nine months of age was tested to have normal hearing. 

Such results raise the question: what would happen if foot reflexology was to be applied to the whole baby foot every day? A better start on life for the little one?

“Conclusion: This study demonstrated that foot reflexology benefits infants with SNHL. The activation of auditory areas and hubs of the language network, such as the middle temporal gyrus, thalamus, and frontal cortex, was enhanced by foot reflexology (in contrast to infants in a non-reflexology control group). In contrast, the activation of the occipital cortex was decreased. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report physiological evidence that foot reflexology affects infants with SNHL.” (https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-2710677/v1)