Edzard Ernst, M.D., Ph.D. has located and evaluated 18 randomized controlled clinical trials involving reflexology. [Ernst E. Is reflexology an effective intervention? A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Medical Journal of Australia 7;191:263-266, 2009] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19740047
He concluded that 12 failed to show effectiveness, five suggested positive results, and one result was unclear, most of the studies were small and poorly designed, and the two largest studies had negative results. Overall, Ernst concluded:
**The trials failed to demonstrate that reflexology is clinically effective for any of the wide range of conditions for which it has been tested.
**Use of reflexology for diagnosis will generate false positive and false-negative results.
**If used instead of standard treatment for serious conditions, it could be life-threatening.
Reflexology is a pseudoscientific practice system of diagnosis and treatment based on the premise that each body part is "represented"
on the hands and feet and that pressing on the hands and feet can have therapeutic effects throughout the body. Research will never validate it.
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