Thursday, October 28, 2010

A New Technique and It's Impact

Thinking about yesterday and what went on in my three and a half hour session. Never had that much change occur in the twenty years I have worked on these feet. I figured it out at 3 AM this morning. (IMHO I think this approach could profoundly impact the practice of reflexology and make reflexologists on high demand.) I won't keep you on suspense. It involves double thumbwalking from the ankle down. What I figured out this morning is that you can trigger ground sensors that are involved in the adjustment to the surface underfoot. It loosens both the foot and leg. But it does something else that seems to integrate the whole foot. Amazing stuff!!! BlogBooster-The most productive way for mobile blogging. BlogBooster is a multi-service blog editor for iPhone, Android, WebOs and your desktop

Monday, October 25, 2010

Taste buds in the lungs? That’s what new research is showing.

Taste buds in the lungs? That’s what new research is showing.

It seems taste buds in the lungs sense bitter taste, specifically that of illness-causing bacteria. “When the taste receptors in the lungs detect bugs that cause pneumonia and other serious illnesses, the muscles relax and the airways expand. This happens presumably to allow a person to breathe more easily and to clear the bacteria and related debris out of the airway to keep the bacteria from progression to a more serious infection…” Scientists find this new discovery to be important because it leads to new ideas to create drugs to treat asthma and other respiratory illnesses. 

Does reflexology have a similar impact, prompting muscles to relax and airways to expand? While reflexology research reports do not cite mechanisms of action, the studies do demonstrate that reflexology impacts respiratory-related illnesses and function:
• Reflexology helps with symptoms of asthma if applied sufficiently. Disappearance of symptoms is reported when reflexology is applied daily for 2 to 12 weeks but no when applied 60 minutes per week for 10 weeks.
• Reflexology increases oxygen saturation rates:
• The addition of reflexology to a medication regime speeds up the treatment time for infants with pneumonia from an average of 9.7 days as opposed to 12.3 days for infants treated with medication alone.
• Foot reflexology was found to be more effective than antibiotics in treating bronchitis in children.


Further research should show what creates the positive effects attributed to reflexology. Could  the relaxing qualities of reflexology be used "to clear the bacteria and related debris out of the airway to keep the bacteria from progression to a more serious infection"?


Barbara Kunz



Friday, October 22, 2010

Free Friday- Reflexology Stuff

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1. Free Iphone/ IPad/ ITouch Reflexology Chart App. Take your reflexology with you.This handy app goes on your IPhone, IPad and Itouch. 


Get it here.

2. Free Interactive Foot and Hand Charts

Done with a design team from Kunz&Kunz and DK these charts are wildly popular and a great teaching tool as well. 


3. Free Widgets

These interactive widgets are free to put on your web site, blog, Facebook page and other social networking sites. 

Foot reflexology widget

Hand Reflexology Widget 

Complete Reflexology for Life- Free Widget with contents of this blog

What Reflexology Research Shows. Free Widget with Reflexology Research Results. 

Yahoo Reflexology Community Forum- Free Reflexology Forum Widget with posts from the members

Nursing and Reflexology Research. Free Widget with Reflexology Research Performed with Nurses

Free Twitter Widget to Follow the Tweets on Kevin Kunz


6. Free Facebook Reflexology Forum- A causal forum on reflexology for anyone to join

Kevin's Facebook page that might as well be a forum. Lively, fast paced and a real treasure trove of information

Benefits of a Single Reflexology Session



Benefits of a Reflexology Session
Research shows that a single reflexology session:
• creates relaxation
• reduces anxiety
• diminishes pain
• improves blood flow to the kidneys, intestines, brain and feet
• decreases heart rate and blood pressure
• increases oxygen saturation and lowers respiratory rate




Kevin Kunz

Thursday, October 21, 2010

What a Series of Reflexology Sessions Will Do For You

Research shows that a series of reflexology sessions:
Improves the body overall by helping every part of it:
• improves the functioning of the kidneys (waste product removal, anemia prevention, infection fighting)
• impacts the digestive system of healthy individuals and relieves constipation in children, women, and the elderly
• eases difficult urination for men and incontinence in women
• eases PMS and menopause for women and prostate problems for men
• improves workings of the immune system.

Kevin Kunz


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 SteinWashington 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

Monday, October 18, 2010

Science doesn’t always tell the whole story when it comes to reflexology

Science doesn’t always tell the whole story. Or so it seems when considering reflexology. A recent German study notes that reflexology is among CAM practices that “may not have been covered adequately” by databases “which disseminate relevant resources” to “clinicians, researchers and healthcare professionals as well as the lay public”

Translation: information about existing reflexology research is probably not available—to doctors giving information to patients; to researchers considering reflexology; to other healthcare professionals or to the general public. (See abstracts below.)

On the other hand, reflexology is making strides in the real world when consideration is given to practicality and what works. Consider guidelines for the treatment of endometriosis by the UK’s Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists with 12,000 members:

“The aim of this guideline is to provide clinicians with up-to-date information about the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis, based upon the best available evidence.The treatment options are examined in the light of presenting symptoms and associated infertility. … “Many women with endometriosis report that nutritional and complementary therapies such as homeopathy, reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine or herbal treatments, do improve pain symptoms. While there is no evidence from randomised controlled trials in endometriosis to support these treatments, they should not be ruled out if the woman feels that they could be beneficial to her overall pain management and/or quality of life, or work in conjunction with more traditional therapies.” “Green-top Guideline No. 24 October 2006” from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
http://www.rcog.org.uk/files/rcog-corp/uploaded-files/GT24InvestigationEndometriosis2006.pdf


Or a similar finding from another source:
“ This is the third Endometriosis Annual Evidence Update. The purpose of the second Evidence Update in March 2008 was to summarise and update the information contained in the guidelines produced by the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists in 2006 and the European Society for Human Reproduction & Embryology (ESHRE) in 2005. … “Women may rely on complementary medicine approaches (e.g. homeopathy, reflexology, Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbal treatments). There is no evidence from RCTs to support the use of these therapies in endometriosis but it is generally recommended that they should not be ruled out if the woman feels that they could be beneficial to her overall pain management and/or quality of life, or work in conjunction with more traditional therapies.”:
Stephen Kennedy, Clinical Reader/Head of Department, Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Oxford, who is trustee of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation.
http://www.tripdatabase.com/doc/1034940-Is-reflexology-an-effective-intervention--A-systematic-review-of-randomised-controlled-trials


But here seems to be a bias in the system:
“A Study of Databases CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine)”
“…This overview aims at systematically retrieving and describing all databases covering the field of CAM. One of the requirements for inclusion was that the database would also have to be published in a medical journal.… “The databases AMED, CAMbase, EMBASE, and MEDLINE/PubMed were searched between December 2008 and December 2009 for publications relevant to CAM databases. The authors' specialist library was also searched for grey literature to be included.… “Conclusions: Although this overview is quite comprehensive with respect to the field of CAM, certain CAM practices such as chiropractic, massage, reflexology, meditation or yoga may not have been covered adequately. A more detailed assessment of the quality of the included databases might give additional insights into the listed resources. The creation of a personalised meta-search engine is suggested, towards which this overview could be seen as a first step.”
Boehm K, Raak C, Vollmar HC, Ostermann T., “An overview of 45 published database resources for complementary and alternative medicine.” Health Info Libr J. 2010 Jun;27(2):93-105. Center of Integrative Medicine, University of Witten/Herdecke, Gerhard-Kienle-Weg 4, 58313 Herdecke, Germany, drkatjaboehm@gmail.com PMID: 20565550 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20565550)


So are we dealing with a scientific bias about reflexology that is systemic? It seems so particularly with endometriosis. Does that mean people have to suffer until the scientists can get over this bias? Seems like it. 



Kevin Kunz