Published Reflexology Research

Chest Disorders

Chest Pain
Margaret Barker, a qualified reflexologist, conducted a small-scale study at the Cardiac Unit of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK, into the effects of reflexology on a group of 4 patients suffering from chest pain.

The patients were referred from a consultant; all had experienced pain for periods ranging between 18 months to 13 years and cardiac catheterizations revealed that none of the patients had any identifiable disease of the cardiac arteries. Furthermore, none of the patients had had reflexology treatment prior to the study, nor were they encouraged to believe that the treatment would 'cure' their condition.

Weekly reflexology treatments were given over a period of 8 weeks and asked to keep a diary to record their chest pain before and after treatments specifying
  • the number of pain episodes
  • the intensity of the pain
  • the duration of the pain.
Results: All of the patients recorded positive results; 75% experienced a complete relief from their original symptoms after 9 months and the remaining patient reported a reduction in pain.

Pneumonia (Infantile)
Results: Infants who receive both medication and reflexology recovered from infantile pneumonia more quickly than on medication alone.

(Liang-cai, Pei, "Observation of 58 Infantile Pneumonia by Combined Method of Medication with Foot Massage," A Clinical Analysis of 132 Cases," (19)96 Beijing International Reflexology Conference (Report), China Preventive Medical Association and the Chinese Society of Reflexology, Beijing, 1996, p. 34)