Cancer Care and Reflexology

Is twenty-two the magic number for reflexology use in cancer care? After all, results from twenty-two studies conducted in 9 countries describe the positive impact of reflexology work on symptoms experienced by cancer patients. Or, will the much anticipated release of results from a $3.1 million study funded by the National Institute of Health and conducted at Michigan State University be the key to a widespread acceptance of reflexology help by patients, those who care for them as well as families?

Some would say that reflexology has currently reached the tipping point to win the confidence of oncology staff and cancer patients around the world. Studies have been conducted in the US, UK, Italy, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia. Research demonstrates that reflexology helps patients throughout the cancer experience: chemotherapy, post operatively, symptom management and hospice/palliative care. Improvements in symptoms are shown with lessened: pain, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, stress, depression, and foot fatigue and improved quality of life, mood, quality of sleep, morale and vital signs.

Is reflexology is poised to become integrated with conventional cancer care as an evidence-based complementary therapy? Reading the abstracts and studies, one is tempted to say, yes. After all, the research is almost universally conducted by nurses whose professional mandate and front-line role in patient care adds weight to the research conclusions. Study after study cites positive implications for the use of reflexology by nurses.

"Effective nursing intervention" is a phrase frequently seen in the studies. An example is a study conducted in an inpatient program for hospitalized cancer patients: reflexology is... effective in symptom management, nurses should advocate these noninvasive, nondrug treatments for patients when the primary concerns are pain, stress, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms that are not easily treated by pharmacologic modalities alone." (Norton, Vicki, RN, BSN, OCNŽ, and McPherson, Carol P., MSW, MPH, "Initiating a Complementary Therapy Internship Program on an Inpatient Oncology Unit," Oncology Nursing Forum, March/April 2003, Volume 30, Number 2)

It's been twenty-five years since the publication of the first notable study about reflexology and cancer patients. Positive results have been reported starting with a 1985 study by Barbara Zeller-Dobbs of Switzerland. Working with a small group of palliative care patients and seeking results for pain reduction, Zeller-Dobbs reported "... we soon realized the beneficial effect of reflexology on the morale of patients and families. Something was being done for them. Patients expressed feelings of being less abandoned and the families expressed satisfaction at seeing that something painless existed that could aid their relative. In three situations we taught a relative how to use reflexology and the benefit seemed to have been as important for the relative as for the patient... "Patients' comments about reflexology seem to show that it could be one way for them to feel this support and to have a helping presence near them in their last days." (Dobbs, Barbara Zeller, "Alternative health approaches," Nursing Mirror (England), Vol. 160, No. 9, Feb. 27, 1985)(PMID: 3634658)

Now results of a large-scale American study by Dr. Gwen Wyatt of Michigan State University is to be reported in 2010. Wyatt's study focuses on reflexology use for "symptom management and quality of life for women with breast cancer." Patients are divided into three groups: reflexology (provided by a trained reflexologist), placebo reflexology (provided by a research assistant) or usual medical care. Physical and emotional indicators for cancer care patients are measured at 7 weeks, 13 weeks and over time following the intervention. The study "has the potential of leading to an enhanced system of care through the integration of conventional and scientifically-based complementary therapies." (http://prevention.cancer.gov/programs-resources/groups/copt/programs/wyatt) Dr. Wyatt's enhanced care includes training for oncology nurses (already accomplished at Michigan State) and, in the future, a mechanical foot device for use by cancer patients.

The importance of an enhanced system of care is noted in the thesis of nursing student Alberto Zangini at the University of Verona, Italy. "Although these therapies have advantages, they also have negative side effects drugs cancer have so debilitating and troublesome side effects from heavily affect the quality of life of patients and are sometimes even more debilitating than the disease itself. That's why it is of primary importance to find strategies to soothe and moderate side effects antineoplastic drugs."