Scottish Institute of Reflexology
2002
http://health.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2002/03/05/hfeet05.xml
Feet make a big impression on reflexologists
(Filed: 05/03/2002)
Chinese reflexology is powerful and energising. Barbara Lantin investigates
'YOU have hormonal feet," says reflexologist Rosanna Bickerton. As a menopausal woman who has forgotten how it feels to be cold, I know that I am in thrall to my endocrine system. But hormonal feet?
"Sometimes you can just read what's going on by looking at somebody's feet," says Bickerton. "Yours are pink and flushed, which indicates lots of hormonal activity."
Bickerton, the reflexologist described as "a genius" by a Tatler journalist whose pregnancy she detected before the woman herself was aware of it, has added a new string to her bow - Chinese reflexology, said to be more powerful than the Western kind.
"It uses the same body map, but instead of making tiny caterpillar movements with the fingertips, you use your knuckles to make bigger, stronger, sweeping strokes," says Bickerton, one of the first UK practitioners to train in the Chinese method. "Whereas European reflexology is based on relaxation and leaves the patient feeling de-stressed, its Chinese counterpart stimulates and energises."
Reflexology - based on the belief that all the body's organs, systems and parts are reflected in the feet - has been practised in China for thousands of years. It was introduced to the West by Dr William Fitzgerald, an American surgeon who found that applying pressure to parts of the hand and foot could partially anaesthetise areas of the ear, nose and throat.
For Chinese reflexology, the right foot is covered in cream and wrapped in a towel for comfort, while the left foot is treated. The patient sits upright and sips China tea throughout the treatment to warm the body and improve circulation. With the knuckles - in the East, small wooden tools are sometimes used - the practitioner kneads each area of the foot in turn.
The pressure is firm, occasionally uncomfortable. Ideally, a patient should be treated every day for 10 consecutive days. Any condition that responds to Western reflexology can be treated - typically, sinus problems, PMT, headaches and long-term chronic illness.
Because of its powerful properties, Bickerton does not use it on pregnant women or those with emotional problems. She also believes that it is not well suited to frantic high-flyers who are unable to switch off. "They do better with Western reflexology, because it is more relaxing."
Anna Jeoffroy, of the Reflexology Research Trust, says some people find the technique too invasive. "People also need to be warned that they might get strong healing reactions. They may feel very tired, have strong urine, need to evacuate their bowels or feel as if they have flu."
Rosanna Bickerton: 020 8769 9709 The Association of Reflexologists: 0870 567 3320
http://health.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2002/12/27/hcan27.xml
A hands-on approach to cancer
(Filed: 27/12/2002)
Massage, aromatherapy and other complementary treatments are increasingly used alongside traditional medicine. Christine Doyle reports
Sylvia Coultas has a soft voice, gentle manner and a crinkly smile that lights up her face. All this helps to disguise the effects of the past 18 months, during which she has faced one medical hurdle after another in an attempt to treat advanced cancer of the colon.
Coming to terms with her illness and the uncertainties that lie ahead has been emotionally painful. However, she feels that aromatherapy treatments - given about once a week by therapists at Marie Curie Cancer Care's palliative care research unit at the Royal Free Hospital, in north London - have made a huge psychological difference to her outlook. "They have helped me remain calm and positive and to enjoy family life through an extraordinarily stressful time," she says.
When she was diagnosed with cancer, Mrs Coultas had little time to reflect. "I was plunged into chemotherapy and then an operation to remove the primary growths in my colon. The operation seemed a success, but not long afterwards, secondaries were discovered in the large right lobe of my liver.
"I was then given a marvellous new procedure. The surgeon could not just go in and remove the big lobe, as the left lobe was too small to do all the work on its own. So he slowed the blood flow to the large lobe and that encouraged the smaller lobe to grow. When it was large enough to take over all the work of the liver, he removed the large lobe."
The operation went well, but, understandably, Mrs Coultas is reluctant to be drawn on what the future holds. At present, she says slowly, "it is debatable", adding with a smile: "You take me as you see me now." She is 59, the mother of three children - the youngest is 15 - and loved her job as project manager for a housing association, from which she was made redundant shortly after the start of her illness. Adjusting to the agonising change in her life has not been easy, she says.
We meet just before Mrs Coultas's appointment for an aromatherapy session with Dr Susie Wilkinson, a Marie Curie Cancer Care clinical research nurse. Dr Wilkinson also heads the charity's palliative care research centre, based at the Royal Free, where she is leading the largest and most rigorous trial ever carried out on the benefits of aromatherapy for very sick cancer patients. Mrs Coultas is one of 200 patients in the trial.
Marie Curie nurses use a number of complementary treatments in patients' homes or in the charity's 10 hospices and attached day centres. Aromatherapy, massage, cranial massage and reflexology - all of which involve touch - are the most popular.
However, despite growing acceptance of some complementary therapies within mainstream medicine, medical opinion remains divided over their physical and emotional impact on cancer patients. Nowadays, the mainstream "mantra" is that treatment of all kinds must be "evidence-based". Marie Curie nurses are particularly well placed to explore whether alternative treatments can effectively palliate symptoms, and the new aromatherapy trial will add significantly to the existing body of research.
Good palliative care is incredibly important, says Dr Wilkinson. "We try to improve quality of life, with a broad, holistic approach to easing such symptoms as nausea, pain, loss of appetite, vomiting, fatigue, constipation - common with patients on morphine - general aches and anxiety or agitation."
In addition, many patients suffer from erratic mood swings and depression as they see the world around them contracting, sometimes at a bewildering pace. For all their determination to face each day cheerfully, they often find themselves losing confidence and self-esteem.
For Mrs Coultas, aromatherapy has been a positive constant during the months of treatment. "It keeps me in balance with all the complex treatments when doctors and nurses make the decisions and are completely in charge. Aromatherapy is something I can choose; I decide when I can come to the hospital to be soothed and relaxed with lovely oils and a sensitive touch.
"Sometimes, I have been in this room talking to doctors about my treatment. Today, though, I am ready to relax and take my mind off all that." Dr Wilkinson chooses the essential oils of rose, neroli and bergamot - a combination designed to soothe, calm, lift depression and disperse anxiety.
"The lovely smell stays on your body for the the rest of the day: it helps you feel at ease with yourself," says Mrs Coultas.
How aromatherapy actually works remains unclear. But patients who were given massage with essential oils in an earlier and smaller study at a Marie Curie centre were significantly less anxious than those who had massage alone. The volunteers for the new trial, which took place over 10 weeks, were asked to fill out several questionnaires, describing their emotions and various physical symptoms - such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting and pain.
"All the measures we used have been rigorously tested for validity in several countries," says Dr Wilkinson. "Half the patients were randomly selected to be given aromatherapy and had treatments over four weeks, followed by two assessments at around week six and week 10 of the study. The control patients, who received the usual advice and support, were similarly assessed."
Not all patients believe that alternative treatments can work, but their reservations usually fade if they are extremely ill or dying, says Dr Wilkinson. All the treatments involve "a lot of undivided attention", she adds, "and, for some, that is the most important aspect. For many, it is a time, if they wish, to release their worries and anxieties."
Even the patients who ended up as the controls in the Marie Curie study were keen to have aromatherapy sessions at the end of the 10-week trial period.
Objective, quantifiable benefits from the study are still being analysed. Qualitatively, there seems little debate. Patients do want such treatment when it is offered at Marie Curie centres and a growing number of NHS cancer units and voluntary centres.
"They are voting for it by asking for it," says Dr Wilkinson. "If the complementary approach helps people who know their lives are likely to be shortened, it should be on offer."
However, she stresses the importance of a stringent research-based approach. "The National Hospice Council and the Foundation for Integrated Health are drawing up guidelines for using complementary techniques in palliative care. For a start, therapists must be properly qualified."
For Mrs Coultas, there are no doubts: Marie Curie Cancer Care is helping her at the most critical point in her life. "I think all cancer patients like me should be offered aromatherapy and other complementary treatments. Marie Curie nurses are leading the way, and they deserve to be supported to the hilt."
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Scotsman Wed 10 April 2002
healing hands
A step of faith ensures beauty therapist’s success
While some people will be under the impression that Reflexology is gentle foot massage by another name, the people of Benbecula know it to be an alternative therapy that has the potential to be quite upsetting.
In the hands of Mairi Ann Matheson - who runs Belleza Beauty Therapy - a reflexology appointment can lead to, among other things, feelings of nausea and cold symptoms.
If that doesn’t sound like the basis for a successful business, nothing could be further from the truth. Though Mairi offers the usual range of beauty therapy treatments - including waxing, pedicures, aromatherapy and electrolysis - it is her reflexology service that is by far and away the most popular.
Reflexology uses the nerve endings in the feet to remove blockages elsewhere in the body, and the cleansing power of Mairi’s massage tends to involve the expulsion of unpleasant symptoms ahead of a sense of well-being.
Mairi was born and bred in the Western Isles and trained in Aberdeen for two years. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she was determined to return from the mainland. The 25-year-old started trading in December 1997. "I missed my home, the beaches, the people. I new no-one was offering beauty therapy on Benbecula and the Uists and though the population is not big, there is enough demand to sustain Belleza. Although I am trying to do more and more alternative therapy, I am also doing a correspondence course in false nails."
"The great thing about the support of the PSYBT is that the funding was up-front. I was able to pay for equipment straight away. And high-quality equipment at that. I also received some funding from Western Isles Enterprise and on-going support once I had started up."
Belleza Beauty Therapy can be contacted on 01870-602424.