It’s not just placebo, after all. Reflexology, the foot massage therapy, helps people deal with their cancer, even when it’s advanced breast cancer, astonished researchers have reported.
To their surprise, researchers from Michigan State University discovered that reflexology had a positive physical effect on 385 women who were receiving chemotherapy for their advanced breast cancer.
The women having reflexology had significantly less shortness of breath, a common symptom with breast cancer. As a result, they were able to perform many common daily tasks better, such as climbing the stairs, getting dressed and going shopping.
The effects were physical, and not psychological, said the researchers, thus ruling out the placebo effect, the standard reason why alternative therapies ‘work’, according to sceptics.
(Source: Oncology Nursing Forum, November 2012).
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