My current favorite is from a post in a health forum on another site.
The poster is convinced that the cause of cancer is processed foods, and has answered doubters by declaring that we’ll be sorry when the Second Coming arrives (she is urging us to prepare, and also supplied a handy website link).
I suggested that if the Second Coming is so imminent, what does it matter if we sneak a Twinkie?
No answer so far. Perhaps she’s already been Raptured. 
OK, I really did intend to stay out of this thread because it has gone off in so many ludicrous directions (all I wanted to say was that Forward Head Posture is a real condition and it can cause pain. Why is that so controversial?) but I have GOT to stand up for reflexology for a minute here. I’ve put years of money, research, time and study into this field, and you’ve got the gall to suggest I take a harder look at the principles underlying it? Jackmannii, that link you posted is some of the most incorrect, biased shit I’ve ever read. God, if I though that was what reflexology was I’d be against it, too!
While I doubt it’s going to give you the satisfaction you seek I hope you, or at least the folks who were unfortunate enough to read the link you sent, will read the following link from the American Reflexology Certification Board which explains our approach to reflexology: History of Foot Reflexology
The main intent of reflexology is to provide deep relaxation. As I tell my clients, “If anyone tells you they’re going to cure your disease using reflexology, run quickly in the opposite direction.” It’s not a “foot massage”. Massage is a completely different modality with a completely different intent. There seems to be something about reflexology that takes people into a deeply relaxed state, much deeper than a “foot massage”. I am very keen to learn more and help promote research which helps us know why this is. Deep relaxation reduces stress. Reduced stress equals improved immune response.
That’s it. That’s what reflexology can do. No “woo woo”. No “energy fields”. It just relaxes the hell out of people. I’ve found the most dramatic results occur with people recovering from surgery. They’re sore and tired and physically traumatized, and they can’t tolerate a massage, so I just do reflexology on their feet. I have had many clients say “That was when I finally felt like I was getting better. That was a turning point in my recovery.” Is that hard scientific data? Of course not. It’s anecdote. Is that a double-blind, placebo-controlled test? Nope. But again, I really don’t know how you do that (or even single blind) with this modality.
Do I consider reflexology alternative medicine? Nope. I consider it complementary, meaning “Please go get your antibiotics and surgery and whatever else you need to get well, but also consider this service as a complement to those things.”
So, my friend, hate on chiropractors all you want. Hate on reflexology all you want. I honestly don’t care. But please consider being an informed hater. After all, we’re supposed to be fighting ignorance here, and that voodoo woowoo link you posted is not only insulting. It’s just plain wrong.
This is a medical claim totally unsubstantiated by any double-blind study. It is a total denial of the germ theory of disease. It is junk “science”.
I doubt that it will work, and always have. I had it done, as there is no charge through my insurance, and it works slightly less better than chiropractic did for my lower back pain- basically lessened it for about 24 hours.
Chiropractic work seemed to work better- up to 72 hours pain free.
Neither could replace the lost bone from my spine, and while free, and pretty interesting, both took time better spent working.
I went ahead and got the nerve block (facet), and now I am off the opiates! Hooray!
But I anecdotally am down with both, for certain things. I don’t buy all the woo, but some of the woo. I wonder if it would work now, as I have been told definitively that it works equally well as placebo. I think. It was not really detailed as to the % of each on the study referenced.
I would like to see that too.
I also really loved that last post, GND! I like to see the backup, when it is there. I am much more inclined to the scientific side, but as noted above, have had results, placebo or not, from several of these methods. Never tried reflexology. Sounds interesting. Wonder if it is covered by my insurance…
I have actually participated in some ‘double blind and random placebo’ tests. Somehow, I always found a way to screw up the results, and the grad students would have to toss the results and reformat the tests. Made for better experimentation, however. I helped them find some gray areas.
So reflexology, as per your link, is “primarily a relaxation technique.” In other words, if it feels good, do it. Who can argue against relaxation? How is it actually any different than massage, sex, or a good hobby? Since its basis is in pleasure and relaxation, does it even need any kind of pseudoscientific justification?
What is the status of these people in the US reflexology community? The claims they make are quite a bit more aggressive.
Especially when the pseudoscientific justification is the official line from the governing bodies? I can see asking us to ignore quacks that practice from the fringes, but you are asking us to ignore the mainstream line and pay attention to the fringe.
People spent centuries searching for the philosopher’s stone that would turn lead into gold. They never succeeded. Spending a lot of time and effort on something is no guarantee that it is worthwhile.
What evidence do you have that the relaxation produced by reflexology differs from that produced by a foot massage accompanied by an authoritative statement that “this will put you into a deeply relaxed state”?
As I said before, first you need to show “that” this is before you try to explain “why”.
You take as large a group of patients as you can find. You divide them randomly into four groups.
[ul][li]One group gets reflexology treatment on the meridians in their feet.[/li][li]Another group gets reflexology treatment on their feet, but you do it wrong - massage the wrong meridians or in the wrong way. [/li][li]A third group gets a standard foot massage.[/li][li]The last group gets nothing except standard treatment. [/ul]Tell patients in the first three groups in an authoritative voice that they are getting a special treatment that will make them deeply relaxed and they will heal faster and feel better. [/li]
Ideally the treatment of the first three groups would be administered by someone who believed they were doing the patients some good.
Then compare the outcomes. Then, shuffle the patients randomly among the groups and do it again.
Then submit your results to some reputable peer-reviewed journal of science-based medicine and see if others replicate your results.
That’s how it’s done in the scientific community - we don’t just say “oh look, some anecdotal evidence of people who say they feel better after you rub their feet - this must be a valid new form of treatment. Let’s try to figure out why it works”.
Regards,
Shodan
It looks like some people have tried to do this. 18 of them, of varying quality. Is reflexology a effective intervention?
Maybe better science in the future will prove otherwise. Maybe not.
Since I am at the very beginning of Alexander Technique treatment, I decided to Google it and see if it’s peer reviewed. It is, and it’s found to be effective. Woo hoo!
Thank you for this, Maeglin. This felt like it was offered with sincerity and respect. (If it wasn’t, don’t tell me! :p)
As the various links of shown, there are plenty of crazy wack-a-doodles in the reflexology field (see my earlier post about the foot-bath devotees). It is, in my opinion, a huge hindrance to getting ourselves organized and established. (Massage has done a much better job of organizing, research, and lobbying.)
A couple out of New Mexico, Kevin and Barbara Kunz, are doing some really strong work in promoting reflexology and its research in the USA. Here is a page they’ve assembled pointing to some of the research info they have gathered: http://www.reflexology-research.com/reflexresearch.html
Who offered that quote up? You did. Are you dancing with yourself?
I was comparing the zealotry of their most extreme fundamentalist adherents, not the items themselves.
Is there another official body you’d like to refer us to?
The different governing bodies seem to disagree a bit on how it works and what it’s supposed to do, so you just pick one, and we’ll just go from there, o.k.?
It’s from The Reflexology Association of Canada, presumably a recognized national body. If it isn’t a reasonable source for statements about Reflexology then can you point us to an organization that represents or regulates Reflexologists? We need to get some statement about what Reflexologists believe to have this discussion.
I did in post #82 (it’s the History of Foot Reflexology post)
Sorry, I’d repost the link here but I’m on my phone now and I’m finding it challenging.
American Reflexology Certification Board? O.k.
This is quite a useful link, if you posted it as an example of the sort of research on which proponents of reflexology rely.
And articles from the Daily Mail. :dubious:
And I thought you had said that reflexology is different from foot massage.
Contrast that with Maeglin’s cite.
Regards,
Shodan
After reading this I looked at myself from the side and I look like a mutant. I’m googling and you-tubing for exercises, but I don’t know if I’m doing them right. I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s real, but I have it!
ooooo I do medical guinea piggery for pay, I volunteer to be in the test … 