I don't know if it a scam, or just a folk medicine with some basis that could be discovered. I can tell you that a long walk in the morning helps me stay regular, especially when traveling. However, I find that massaging my feet does the same thing. It seems to me that this could be a link between the feet and thesmall intestine. So, why not do studies? It may not cure illness, but it may improve health, just like regular excercise.
in the known case, there are many nerves in the hand and feet. it has been proven that stress tends to be the root of all kinds of illness. nerve ending in the hand and feet are connected to many other parts of the body before reaching the brain. not all tension that builds in the hands and feet due to stress loosen on its own. buy physically relaxing the tensions in the hands and feet sends relaxing signals throughout the body. although there may not be scientific evidence to support metaphysical treatments, it is scientifically proven that a person whom is remains relaxed more often than stressed has generally better health.
personally i rather be relaxed and ignorant of a possible scam, opposed to being right and keeping my stress hoping scientific medicine will prevent or remove the roots of any illness.
on the other hand, i do not believe one needs to go to a specialist, but why wouldnt someone go to a specialist.
Not sure if Reflexology can "Cure" the things you posted? All i know is i'm on my feet for almost a full 12 hours a day at work and if I did not have my feet massaged by a local Reflexologist i would not be working now! This was after i tried everything else including special shoes, orthodics, ect ect. That's about all that i know about it.
I agree, initially it does sound outlandish, especialy to us westerners. In the East however, Reflexology has been used to 'help the body heal itself' for thousands of years, it's use is even pictured on the physicians pyramid. As my Grandad remarked - if it was useless - it would've died out years ago.
Yep, its a scam and most who support it are wierdos anyway. Its silly and ridiculous to think this nonsense actually does something other than 'scratch an itch' or something. lmao I'm just glad I never paid any money to get this 'therapy'. RR
Reflexology is no more successful than a PLACEBO, which by the way was a legitimate and highly effective intervention and used by mainstream doctors from the middle ages until about the 1950's for curing problems. People swear that it works. And because of placebo, the irony is that it will (sometimes). On the other hand a legitimate treatment will beat a placebo in any scientific method. Whenever you do a double blind study (this is when the subject and the scientific tester do not know which is the placebo intervention and which is the tested intervention), Reflexology works no better than placebo. People on this thread who claim that we have energy systems or connections from our feet to other organs have no basis to make these claims. These are beliefs nothing more. THINK, where did you find this out? This is more or less the same as having faith in something rather than demonstrating a vigorous proof. By proof I mean like in a scientific study...not like when you see a tabloid journalist use the words "proof" in some badly researched article. This type of proof requires one to outline ones METHOD and RESULTS so other can critique and more importantly replicate the work. For those of you who think this means I am for mainstream medicine, well I rarely use it because it mostly relies on pharmaceutical interventions(pills), which by the way are heavily backed by very wealthy and corrupted vested interests. Studies promoted by them almost never find against their pills. However there are many independant scientific studies that have found in favour of many very important discoveries like penicillin. Those of you who believe in Reflexology know that it will work at times because of placebo. Also know that there is another lovely concept called "regression to the mean". Basically if you seek an intervention when you are ill in some way, know that in general you will more than likely improve especially if you seek the intervention at the peak of your problems. You will associate the intervention with getting better and repeatedly use it thinking it will make you better. Will a massage on your feet make you feel better? I'd almost guarantee it will every time. I have used deep tissue massage when I competed in sport and it indefinably worked. Not because of "energy system" or "removing toxins" (the kidney and liver are designed for that) but because stimulating nerves that control muscles decreases their tension through a simple and well understood process (and yes it is repeatable)....even though science has yet to definitively understand exactly how muscles contract. Reflexology works no better than placebo. If it did then it would be accepted and referred to by mainstream doctors (they are not all in it for the money...yes some are but their profession in grounded in rigorous proof not placebo). cheers D
Actually the whole debate is useless. The people who are against reflexology want studies done to prove it works. They want to ignore the simple fact that its been around for hundreds of years and has helped people the entire time. Whether it physically does something or acts as a placebo to enable someone to be in the right frame of mind so their body heals themselves, it works. Modern medicine is controlled by the pharmacutical companies. They won't endorse or even study anything that doesn't make them money and natural cures would actually benefit people and keep them from making money. Why do you think that America is the most heavy handed country when it comes to prescription drugs? Its because we are a capitalist nation and whoever has the money can influence politics and policies. They have money so they help brainwash the general public who won't really research anything to believe that long standing holistic practices don't work and drugs are the only cure. Just look at diabetes, what's the best cure for it. Control what you eat, stop eating processed foods and tons of sugar until you are 100+ pounds overweight. But big farm says, "Eat what you want we'll just give you drugs to make your body do what it normally should" The majority of this country is brainwashed by propaganda and doesn't even realize it, which is partly why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and our middle class is almost all gone.
WHy don't you fund the double blind study? Because it won't make you any money that's why. Companies only stand to lose money if this type of study were done so noone will ever fund it. So you can't claim it doesn't work until you fund a study and prove it. Until than you just have to go by the people who have done it and what they say and the vast majority of people say it work who have tried it. Just like drugs, some drugs don't help people they make them worse. Reflexology helps people or it doesn't, but it doesn't make them sicker, sterile, have their hair fall out or cause vomiting, nausea, diahrea, heart problems or any of the other warnings you see on drugs. So why dont' you produce a double blind study saying it doesn't work?
"Why u no fund double blind study to prove it doesn't work???????", because it is noone's responsibility to prove something doesn't exist. Do you believe in Santa Claus? No? Did you fund an expedition to the North Pole to check?
"Reflexology has been around for such a long time" - sure, but so has astrology. To make it clear, I'm referring to actually believing that the locations of planets (the giant balls of matter orbiting the giant cosmic fusion reactors called stars) have any influence on our future, behaviour or character traits. There is a ton of anecdotal evidence for that, yet the whole thing is obviously not true. Do any of you believe in astrology? Because if you say yes you immediately dissolve your credibility and the discussion is over.
Also, you believers make the "enough case studies" requirement sound offensive. Look, this is not some caprice of western medicine - it's simple logic. If something hasn't been shown to work, why do you believe it works? It doesn't make any sense.
And it's not like real medicine dismisses any sort of natural drugs just because. For example, eating lemons prevents scurvy. No doctor would question that because it is reproducible and has been demonstrated to actually work.
You just can't defend reflexology as a real phenomenon.
I'd like to make it clear that I don't think reflexology is evil. It's a nice relaxing massage, and it's good if it can provide the placebo effect to help some people. But clearly it does not do anything besides that.
It is fine by me if you think it is a scam. I can vouch that I got rid of a enormous haemorrhoid after 5 reflexology sessions and is haemorrhoid free for 25 years after that "squeezing" To prove that it was not by accident I also can testify that I was not able to conceive because of blocked fallopian tubes. According to my doctor who did a laparoscopy I had no chance to fell pregnant before the blockage had been removed under anaesthesia. I had 4 "squeezing" sessions by a reflexologist (she actually thought that it will took at least 6 sessions to drain the blockage), but I fell pregnant after only 4 sessions. My doctor was not interested in a pregnancy test, because he thought I was "a bit crazy" to think that I could been pregnant, but my son (born after the "squeezing") is now 28 years old. If you do not believe, please don't try to discourage other people who can benefit from this crazy "squeezing".
Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine, 2nd Edition
Reflexology page 136
Or is the Mayo Clinic not a valid enough source for you
Thats a very generalistic view point of reflexologists. As with any profession, there are responsible individuals and irresponsible individuals. A responsible reflexologist should not be claiming that this therapy can heal or cure conditions. The purpose of the treatment is to encourage homeostasis. The relaxation effect of the treatment also has a profound effect on the body. There is research that has been carried out in Japan under MRI showing brain activity that relates to specific parts of the body whilst the reflex points are pressed on the feet. This research is the beginning of showing that there is an actual link between the reflex points and the areas of the body.
To the original thread, yes, i agree fully that it is a scam.
Reduced to the basic elements, reflexology is simply someone showing another person, a soothing hand, a moment to relax, to lay still, switch off, whilst having a massage, we do it to our partners, affection, showing someone attention, whilst gently massaging, listening, soothing....now, all any fraud has to do, is wrap the massage, the quiet, the gentle approach and listening, into an 'ology' and add words like, 'ancient', 'thousands of years' , 'holistic', and, we have another alternative treatment and the people who are not ill but think they are because they obviously have far too much time on there hands, and think they have some special magical foresight that makes them see beyond common sense and practical, peer reviewed evidence based healing, go running to these scam merchants and, because they are not ill, then rave to anyone who will listen, that they were magically 'healed' or 'cured' or 'i felt sh*t when i walked in there, could hardly walk, and, i don't know how they it did it but its amazing how i felt afterwards....
it all comes down to indoctrination from an early age, and carried into older age, any religion you choose and mis truths constantly pumped into the innocent mind and, boy, its so hard to undo the damage, especially when the media supports it....even when they so dumply claim, we are simply offering a review, or and opinion, or......blah blah, and where is the scientific truths and facts and challenge to the scam master....oh sorry we do not understand ...knowledge, and truth, how is that going to sell our media?
It takes a real human being, brave people, to question all the information fed into their brain from an early age, really question it, investigate the origin of each 'fact'.
Each ology comes from an individual who has had an 'idea', or a vision, or spoken to in a dream by their own particular, invisible, god, and rather than test the theory through experiment, trial and testing, skips all that nonsense and goes straight to a statement of 'fact' that cannot be questioned or tested. Suddenly its been used for thousands of years....duh, oh so thats why it 'works' is it...all that evidence of course you are going to show me eh? thousands of years of evidence? Oh, sorry, we are offending you and your 'medicine' healing bollx just because we are questioning your ethics? Oh sorry your high messiah of healing, lest we see you with your hands in the till of innocent victims....