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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

The effects of therapeutic reflexology on cervical cancer patients receiving radiation oncology

Todd, Kimberly 10 July 2012 (has links)
M.Tech. / The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the application of therapeutic reflexology as a complementary medicine, in women with cervical cancer who were receiving radiation therapy with curative intent. Therapeutic reflexology is a therapy that involves stimulating specific reflexes in the hands, feet, body and ears by applying pressure to these reflexes with the thumbs and fingers, using specific techniques. All the body’s organs, glands and other parts of the body are reflected in the feet, body, hands and ears can be stimulated by working over the skin surface with the thumbs and fingers for a specific effect. These specific reflexes have been mapped in miniature on the feet, hands, body and ears (Graham, 1998: 5). Therapeutic reflexology promotes homeostasis within the body, by stimulating reflexes pertaining to organs and glands, and achieving normalisation of organs and glands in the receiver of the treatment. The therapy is non - invasive and non - pharmacological, and has no contra-indications (Graham, 1998: 8). Therapeutic reflexology is often used as a complementary or alternative medicine, yet very little information is available on its effects, which requires further research (Milligan, 2002: 489-96). The number of cancer patients using reflexology as a complementary therapy to allopathic medicine is rapidly rising (Apostolides, 1998: 71-95) It is because of this rise in the number of patients seeking complementary therapy that it is of vital importance that more accurate, results-orientated information is made available to both the patient and the medical practitioner. These findings will allow the patient and medical practitioner to make an informed decision regarding the choices available to complement allopathic medicine, to enhance wellbeing, and achieve better results for the allopathic protocol. A sample group of forty-four women were chosen by simple random selection. Twenty three were treated with therapeutic reflexology, and twenty one were given the placebo treatment for six weeks, while undergoing radiation therapy. The patients chosen for the sample group had stage IIIb as well as stage IIb cervical cancer, and were receiving radiation treatment. The result of the study has been determined by evaluating a questionnaire answered by each patient, after each treatment. The control group who received placebo treatment answered the same questionnaire, formulated in accordance with the Likert Scale, for means of comparison.

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