Efficacy of foot reflexology in reducing migraine pain: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to determine the effect of foot reflexology massage on the intensity, duration, and frequency of pain in patients with migraine headaches.

METHOD

A randomized controlled clinical trial study of three groups was conducted on patients with migraine headaches referred to the neurology department of a specialized clinic in Shiraz, Iran. The patients were randomly divided into three groups. The first, second, and third groups received, respectively: reflexology + drug therapy, sham + drug therapy, and only drug therapy. Changes in the headache daily form, after (T1) and 1 month after interventions (T2) were compared to the beginning of the study (T0).

RESULTS

A total of 84 subjects were enrolled in the study. In the end, the study was completed with a study population of 75 subjects. At the end of the study, repeated measures of ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference between the reflexology group and the two groups in terms of mean duration ( = 0.024) and severity ( = 0.043) of migraine headaches. However, the frequency of migraine headaches was not significantly different between the three groups ( = 0.288).

CONCLUSIONS

In total, this study indicated that reflexology could be effective in reducing the duration and severity of pain in the intervention group. Thus, further studies are suggested to assess the efficacy of this method.