From Expulsive Remedies to Foot Massages— Alternate Ways to Treat Those Who Menstruate
In the scientific article Randomized Controlled Study of Premenstrual Symptoms Treated With Ear, Hand, and Foot Reflexology, published by the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine, Terry Oleson and William Flocco describe a study (conducted from 1998–1990) to test the effectiveness of reflexology as a treatment for PMS. To preface the article, a brief history of other PMS studies (focusing on progesterone administration) was provided, seemingly to demonstrate that a truly effective PMS treatment has not yet been agreed upon by the medical community. The authors then launch into an explanation of reflexology and a description of the specific study they are reporting on.
Reflexology utilizes certain pressure points on the feet, hands, ears, and various other body parts, that correspond somatotopically to specific organs and areas in the body. In this case study, the effectiveness of reflexology as a treatment for PMS symptoms is tested by comparing the results of PMS sufferers who have been treated by “true reflexology” to the results of subjects who received placebo reflexology. All of the subjects in the study had previously reported PSM complications from a list of 19 somatic symptoms and 19 psychological symptoms and were required to keep a daily record of said symptoms throughout the trial. These manifestations of PMS (rated on a 1–3 scale) were recorded for the 7 days before each individuals menstrual period. Two months of observations passed before the patients in the trial began to receive treatment, and the results from these first months served as a baseline.
The patients were then randomly assigned to have true reflexology or the placebo (they were not told which treatment they would be having) and received weekly 30 minute treatments for two months, charting their symptoms daily. After the treatment period, the subjects continued their daily charting for another two months.
The results showed that there was a 46% reduction in PMS symptoms recorded by subjects who received true reflexology as their treatment. There was also a reduction of 19% in the placebo group. The authors of this article believed that the results show that true reflexology worked significantly better than the placebo to reduce premenstrual distress, and noted that when compared to other methods of PMS treatment (such as oral contraceptives and psychotropic drugs) true reflexology proved to be more effective and caused no reported side-effects.
I found this article to be very interesting, especially because it recounts a scientific examination into a procedure that is often considered “pseudoscience”. In our readings we have learned about various ways that the female body was explained and treated in the past. Women were often subject to strategic bleedings to remove excess fluid, expulsive remedies, and pessaries to treat infections or induce abortions. Reflexology seems to constitute a different way of understanding the inner workings of the body. As opposed to focusing on balancing fluids (like Johann Storch in 18th century Germany), practitioners of reflexology consider reflex points and how they correspond to different parts of the body in ways that cannot be seen. The fact that this article places reflexology and PMS in conversation with each other made it even more interesting to me, as it shows that we are still trying (often unsuccessfully) to understand menstruation and specifically female ailments.
While this article and the study it reports on are very important, one must still be critical, as this is one of the only existing studies regarding reflexology and PMS and less than 50 women were examined. It’s also necessary to recognize that all of the data was collected by personal accounts from the test subjects, meaning that it was not uniform or strictly scientific in nature. This being said, the article makes a good case for reflexology as a way to mediate PMS symptoms and the researchers seem to have upheld the scientific method while conducting this study.
Oleson, Terry, PhD, and William Flocco. “Randomized Controlled Study of Premenstrual Symptoms Treated with Ear, Hand and Foot Reflexology.” Complementary Therapies in Medicine 5.4 (1997): 251–52. Web.
