Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training

Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
Main Author: Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
Format: Review
Language:English
Published: National Taiwan University 2015
Online Access:https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945123326&doi=10.1016%2fj.jtcme.2015.08.008&partnerID=40&md5=80a1254f4c75ed30eb90c66c1390d42f
id 2-s2.0-84945123326
spelling 2-s2.0-84945123326
Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
2015
Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
5
4
10.1016/j.jtcme.2015.08.008
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945123326&doi=10.1016%2fj.jtcme.2015.08.008&partnerID=40&md5=80a1254f4c75ed30eb90c66c1390d42f
Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and the training for reflexology practitioners. PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and SpringerLink databases were utilized to search the following medical subject headings or keywords: foot massage, reflexology, foot reflexotherapy, reflexological treatment, and zone therapy. The articles published for the last 10 years were included. Previous systematic reviews failed to show concrete evidence for any specific effect of reflexology in any conditions. Due to its non-invasive, non-pharmacological complementary nature, reflexology is widely accepted and anecdotal evidence of positive effect reflexology in a variety of health conditions are available. Adequate training for practitioners is necessary to ensure the consistency of service provided. © 2015 Center for Food and Biomolecules, National Taiwan University.
National Taiwan University
22254110
English
Review
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
author Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
spellingShingle Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
author_facet Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
author_sort Embong N.H.; Soh Y.C.; Ming L.C.; Wong T.W.
title Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
title_short Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
title_full Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
title_fullStr Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
title_full_unstemmed Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
title_sort Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training
publishDate 2015
container_title Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine
container_volume 5
container_issue 4
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.jtcme.2015.08.008
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84945123326&doi=10.1016%2fj.jtcme.2015.08.008&partnerID=40&md5=80a1254f4c75ed30eb90c66c1390d42f
description Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and the training for reflexology practitioners. PubMed, SCOPUS, Google Scholar, and SpringerLink databases were utilized to search the following medical subject headings or keywords: foot massage, reflexology, foot reflexotherapy, reflexological treatment, and zone therapy. The articles published for the last 10 years were included. Previous systematic reviews failed to show concrete evidence for any specific effect of reflexology in any conditions. Due to its non-invasive, non-pharmacological complementary nature, reflexology is widely accepted and anecdotal evidence of positive effect reflexology in a variety of health conditions are available. Adequate training for practitioners is necessary to ensure the consistency of service provided. © 2015 Center for Food and Biomolecules, National Taiwan University.
publisher National Taiwan University
issn 22254110
language English
format Review
accesstype All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
record_format scopus
collection Scopus
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