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Setting up a practice
Published in Michael Weir, Law and Ethics in Complementary Medicine, 2023
From 1 April 2019 the Federal government excluded from private health insurance sixteen modalities: Alexander technique, aromatherapy, Bowen therapy, buteyko, feldenkrais, western herbalism, homeopathy, iridology, kinesiology, naturopathy, pilates, reflexology, rolfing, shiatsu, tai chi and yoga. Remedial massage/myotherapy, exercise physiology, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture were not impacted by this change. The Natural Therapies Review 2019–20 under the Natural Therapies Review Expert Advisory Panel is currently reviewing that decision to determine if this change should be repealed.
Understanding research
Published in Geraldine Lee-Treweek, Tom Heller, Hilary MacQueen, Julie Stone, Sue Spurr, Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Structures and Safeguards, 2020
Hilary MacQueen, Sheena Murdoch, Andrew Vickers
The question most commonly asked about CAM, and possibly the most important question about any treatment, is ‘Does it work?’ Researchers usually phrase this as ‘Does the treatment do more good than harm?’ (Silverman and Chalmers, 2001), although it is not straightforward to answer this question because outcome measures of ‘good’ and ‘harm’ are different. Both good and harm can be thought of in many different ways. For example, a treatment such as reflexology is unlikely to harm a recipient directly. However, there is a financial cost involved and, if reflexology is ineffective, time and money spent on it might better be spent having another, more effective treatment. The main way of deciding whether a treatment does more good than harm is to conduct a randomised controlled trial or RCT (Silverman and Chalmers, 2001). As described above, in a typical RCT, participants receive one of two treatments. Who receives which is determined at random, but in RCTs it is not essential (or often even possible) for the trials to be double-blind. At the end of the study, the results from patients in each group are compared. RCTs sometimes compare more than two treatments, or one treatment with a control such as a placebo, as in a placebo-controlled trial (discussed above). However, if a treatment for a condition already exists, it must be made available to some of the participants for ethical reasons (World Medical Association, 2000), so the trial is comparing a potential new treatment with an existing one, and with any controls that the researchers want to include.
Pain management
Published in Barbara Smith, Linda Field, Nursing Care, 2019
Reflexology consists of applying small pressure movements to the surfaces of the foot and around the ankle. The movements follow a ‘map’ that relates parts of the body to corresponding reflex points on each foot. This has a relaxing effect and can be beneficial in giving pain relief.
Massage therapy as a complementary and alternative approach for people with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review
Published in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2022
Zakieh Heidari, Shahnaz Shahrbanian, Chungyi Chiu
The current review found a great degree of anxiety reduction in PwMS. The different types of massage programs could cause such anxiety reduction. Reflexology massage can reduce the sympathetic nervous system's activity, promote deep relaxation, release pressure, and restore body balance, effectively reducing anxiety [5, 54]. Four weeks of 30-40 min foot reflexology (ES = 2.80) [28] and 45-min, twice weekly adherence to a therapeutic massage program for five weeks (ES = 1.09) [30] has been found to be effective in reducing anxiety. Moderate pressure of the massage is devoted to enhance dopamine, which drives to reduce norepinephrine levels as well as anxiety levels [55]. A relaxation reaction that occurs following massage pressure can suppress the stress response. Moderated stress leads to an increase in the diminished activity of the sympathetic nervous system and vagal outflow [56], decreasing anxiety.
The Effect of Educational Program for New Mothers about Infant Abdominal Massage and Foot Reflexology for Decreasing Colic at Najran City
Published in Comprehensive Child and Adolescent Nursing, 2021
Awad Mohammed Al Qahtani, Howaida Moawad Ahmed
In essence, reflexology describes the noninvasive practice of foot massage or the application of pressure to this area based upon the premise that this can act to harmonize the body’s functions and to thereby induce a process of natural healing and wellbeing. Adopting the model of proprioceptive nervous receptors, reflexology is predicated upon the presumption that there exists a pathway which links specific areas of the feet to other areas of the body. Thus, by manipulating areas of the foot it is possible to derive benefit in corresponding regions of the body (Sinclair, 2010). This is deemed to result from a release of endorphins and encephalin via the stimulation of the pituitary gland as a result of manipulation of either the hands or the feet (Koç & Gözen, 2015).
The effect of guided imagery and reflexology on pain intensity, duration of labor and birth satisfaction in primiparas: randomized controlled trial
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2021
One of the non-pharmacological applications is reflexology. Reflexology is a hand and foot massage that leads to the formation of electrochemical messages as a result of the stimulation of nerve points with specific techniques. Applying pressure on specific reflex points of the foot sole breaks calcium crystals and uric acid accumulated in the nerve endings. This pressure opens the blocked nerve pathways and improves blood flow throughout the body (Dolation et al., 2011; Valiani et al., 2010).