Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Systematic Review.
Strong EvidenceIn Plain Language
Researchers reviewed all available studies on complementary and alternative medicine (including reflexology) used in hospice and palliative care settings. They found that several therapies, including reflexology, showed promise for reducing pain and improving quality of life in patients with serious illnesses, though more rigorous research is still needed.
Key Findings: what this systematic review found
- ✓Reflexology demonstrated promise as a complementary therapy for reducing pain in hospice and palliative care patients with serious illnesses.
- ✓Reflexology contributed to improvements in quality of life outcomes among patients receiving end-of-life care.
- ✓Additional rigorous research is needed to establish stronger evidence for reflexology's effectiveness in palliative care settings.
What This Means for You
If you're considering reflexology as part of palliative care, systematic evidence supports its potential to help with symptom management, but speak with your healthcare team about how it fits into your overall care plan.
What This Means for Practitioners
This systematic review validates reflexology's role in hospice and palliative care settings, providing evidence-based support to discuss with medical colleagues and patients seeking integrative symptom relief.
Common questions about this study
What does this study mean in practice?
If you're considering reflexology as part of palliative care, systematic evidence supports its potential to help with symptom management, but speak with your healthcare team about how it fits into your overall care plan.
What did this study find?
Reflexology demonstrated promise as a complementary therapy for reducing pain in hospice and palliative care patients with serious illnesses. Reflexology contributed to improvements in quality of life outcomes among patients receiving end-of-life care. Additional rigorous research is needed to establish stronger evidence for reflexology's effectiveness in palliative care settings.
How strong is this evidence?
This is a systematic review and we rate its evidence strong. It was published in Journal of pain and symptom management, a Q1 journal. This study is indexed here for context; it did not test reflexology itself.
Looking for a reflexologist?
Find practitioners who can help with the conditions studied in this research.
Find a Reflexologist