While clinical experience and women’s feedback suggest that reflexology may have beneficial effects on menopausal symptoms, what research has been carried out to investigate this?
The most recent research in this area was in 2019 when a randomised controlled clinical trial investigated the effect of foot reflexology in depression during menopause (Mahdavipour et al., 2019). The findings indicated that reflexology can be effective for reducing women’s depression during menopause. It noted that as the sample size was small, and that there was no intervention in the control group, further studies are needed to verify the findings.
A previous randomised controlled study (Gozuyesil & Baser, 2016) aimed to identify the effects of foot reflexology on vasomotor complaints (hot flushes, sweats, night sweats etc.). Results from this indicated that reflexology might be effective in decreasing vasomotor symptoms and increasing the quality of life of women in the menopausal period.
Earlier research (Asltoghiri & Ghodsi, 2012) was carried out to investigate the effects of reflexology on sleep disorder in menopausal women. The results of this study suggested that reflexology is an effective non-hormonal approach for the treatment of sleep disorder during the menopause.
In 2002 a randomised controlled trial was carried out to investigate the effect of reflexology on the psychological symptoms of menopause (Williamson et al., 2002). It concluded that reflexology was not shown to be more effective than non-specific foot massage in the treatment of the psychological symptoms occurring during menopause.
So, to date, there is some research to indicate that regular reflexology treatments can be effective in reducing depression, vasomotor symptoms and sleep disorder during menopause. More research is needed in this area to further investigate its effectiveness. If you are interested in trying reflexology to see if it helps with menopausal symptoms, look for a reflexologist that is specifically training in Reflexology for Menopause.
References
Asltoghiri, M., & Ghodsi, Z. (2012). The effects of
Reflexology on sleep disorder in menopausal women. Procedia,
Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, 242–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.12.049
Gozuyesil, E., & Baser, M. (2016). The effect of foot
reflexology applied to women aged between 40 and 60 on vasomotor complaints and
quality of life. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 24,
78–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.05.011
Mahdavipour, F., Rahemi, Z., Sadat, Z., & Ajorpaz, N. M.
(2019). The effects of foot reflexology on depression during menopause: A
randomized controlled clinical trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 47,
102195–102195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2019.102195
Williamson, J., White, A., Hart, A., & Ernst, E. (2002).
Randomised controlled trial of reflexology for menopausal symptoms. BJOG : An International Journal of
Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 109(9), 1050–1055. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1470-0328(02)01504-5
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