Reflexology Research

Some positive reflexology research has actually made the popular press this week even though scores of legitimate research does not. It was a three year study by researchers at the university of Stirling that showed the effects of reflexology on the hearts of healthy volunteers. It was  small study but had excellent protocols and results. It will not be world changing but it is to be welcomed. There are many problems with medical research these days. To be shown to be effective it has to be done exactly by the book with very narrow protocols. Until something has been researched correctly it is often stated by the orthodox medical fraternity that such and such an approach is not research based and is therefore not valid. Therefore positive results for whatever complementary therapy has not complied with this narrow structure is deemed to work purely on anecdotal evidence or the dreaded placebo effect.

I have often been accused in the past of not giving a fig for research. This is actually not true - I am just as in favour of it as anyone else. Most research is actually very time consuming and, quite frankly - boring! Why should I comply with someone else's rules when all I want to do is to treat sick people. I know that my methods work without researching them - let others do that if they want to - and a few have!. We all know that pain relief acupuncture has been researched ad nauseum. This only proves one thing - that pain relief acupuncture works. Yippee!!! Ten thousand practitioners and a million patients down the ages didn't need to be told that - they already knew it. What science cannot answer though is why non pain relief acupuncture works - eg those used for well being, emotional, non painful skin conditions etc. And yet it still works!! When will these scientific boffins realise that if something has been practised for hundreds or thousands of years - it obviously works, otherwise it would have died out. Anecdotal evidence on therapies that have existed for millennia is fine by me.