Alternative Medicine Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alternative Medicine, including details on complementary medicine, alternative therapies, homeopathy.

A randomised-controlled trail examining the effects of reflexology of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Wilkinson IS, Prigmore S, Rayner CF

St George's Hospital, Tooting, London SW17, UK. iainwilkinson@doctors.net.uk

It is known that many patients with obstructive pulmonary diseases use a number of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). There has been a great deal of interest into the CAM recently, with the House of Lords select committee for science and technology's report suggesting randomised-controlled trials are the best means of researching the area. There is very little research into the effects of reflexology specifically on the effects it has on COPD. As such a randomised-controlled trial was set up to examine the effects of reflexology treatments on COPD. Results were qualitative and quantitative and showed that there are a number of areas of possible benefit for patients with COPD, but a larger scale study with a longer time frame is needed for a full evaluation of these effects.

Published 1 May 2006 in Complement Ther Clin Pract, 12(2): 141-7.
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