Women's Health

Women's health has been an area of special interest of mine for a long time now, as well as learning about the effects of hormones in women's health during the physiology element of my original reflexology training, I have continued doing CPD courses and reading around the impact of hormonal changes and how reflexology can support a reduction in that impact (see references below). If you would like to know more about reflexology in relation to women's health, please feel free to get in touch.

If you would like to book a reflexology appointment there is a link to the booking system at the bottom of this page.

Continuing Professional Development Courses

Supporting The Fertility Journey Using Reflexology

Supporting the Maternity Journey Using Reflexology

The Peri and Post Menopause Care Programme

Pain Management in the Female Reproductive System

Premenstrual Symptoms and reflexology research

• A randomised control study of premenstrual symptoms demonstrated a significantly greater decrease in premenstrual symptoms for the women given true reflexology treatment than for the women in the placebo group (1)
• A Pre-Post Pilot Study of nursing students concluded foot reflexology had shown promising results in reducing premenstrual syndrome symptoms (2)

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8233263/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34900066/

Maternity Reflexology Research

Recent studies have shown that reflexology:

• Significantly reduced pain during labour(1, 3)
• Reduced the length of the first stage of labour(1, 3)
• Improved quality of sleep in post-natal women(2)
• Shorter second stage for women with low back pain or pelvic girdle pain (6 x weekly reflexology) (4)
• Reduced pain and stress levels for women with low back pain or pelvic girdle pain (6 x weekly reflexology) (5)
• Lowers anxiety scores of women in labour (30 minute treatment) (6)

         1. VALIANI M ET AL (2010) Reviewing the effect of Reflexology on pain and outcomes of the labour of                     primiparous women. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research. 15(Dec) p302-310
         2. LI C-Y ET AL (2011) Randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of using foot reflexology to                           improve quality of sleep  amongst post partum women. Midwifery. 27. p181-186
         3. Iran Red Crescent Med J 2011; 13(7):475-479 ©Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal.
         4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29024881
         5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29705485
         6. The Effect of Foot Reflexology on the Anxiety Levels of Women in Labour. Yılar Erkek Z, Aktas S. J                          Altern Complement Med. 2018 Apr;24(4):352-360

Menopause and Reflexology Research

Research evidence has shown that:

• reflexology can be effective in decreasing vasomotor problems and increasing quality of life in the menopausal period (1)
• reflexology can be effective therapy for sleep disorders and hot flushes in menopause (2)
• Foot reflexology can be  effective for reducing women's depression during menopause (3)

1. https:pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21037488// 
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811029788
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31780002/