Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. Non-Pharmacological Interventions NPIs are increasingly being introduced into healthcare, but their mechanisms are unclear.
In this study, 30 healthy participants received foot reflexology FR and sham massage, and went through a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging rs-fMRI to evaluate NPIs effect on brain. Even if no differences were found between FR and SM, this study allowed to report brain biomarkers of well-being as well as the safety of NPIs.
In further research, it could be relevant to study it in patients to look for a true reflexology induced-effect dependent of patient reported outcomes. Overall, these findings enrich the understanding of the neural correlates of well-being experienced with NPIs and provided insight into the basis of the mechanisms of NPIs. Among NPIs, Foot Reflexology FR consists of physical stimulation of the epidermis of the feet through the application of controlled pressure movement to specific areas, called reflex zones.
This concept was used to activate homeostasis 2 , 3 and currently, FR is increasingly being introduced into healthcare to improve the physical and emotional well-being of individuals. Some studies have already reported significant positive outcomes including pain management, regardless of etiology 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , stress or anxiety 12 , 13 , 14 and improvement in general well-being or quality of life 15 , 16 , Despite these benefits, research based on robust methodology was sparse and the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of FR also remained undetermined Hence, clarifying the indications, verifying the safety and identifying the mechanisms of FR is currently a key priority.
Indeed, resting state fMRI rs-fMRI on healthy adult volunteers allows researchers to test hypotheses about particular functional networks and the impact of specific activities for example mindfulness meditation on intrinsic brain connectivity 19 , A few previous studies reported the use of fMRI to detect brain activity in FR and have suggested a correlation between somatosensory cortex activity and the stimulation of specific reflex areas in the feet 21 , Nevertheless, to our knowledge, the examination of resting state networks associated with FR has never been done.
