The effect of sole reflexology (Reflex Zone Therapy) on the intensity of premenstrual syndrome: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial

Abstract Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome is considered as one of the most common gynecological diseases and is also one of the most common disorders at fertility ages. Regarding the global expansion of using traditional medicine as complementary medicine and keeping the midwives along with modern methods and also considering the many advantages and low side effects of reflexology, the researcher decided to study its effect on reducing this syndrome among students at Tehran University of Medical sciences. Materials & Methods: This research is a single blinded clinical trial which was done on 120 volunteer students in the University of Tehran. Having diagnosed the above syndrome by registering the form of daily status and having the requirements for entering the study during two menstrual cycles as randomly and using Rand List software, the research units were divided in to two groups of real and unreal reflex zone therapy (intervention and control group) and received this treatment for eight continuous weeks, for 30 minutes once a week. The data were statistically analyzed by Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test for comparing the qualitative variables and by mean difference test and repeated measurement of ANOVA for comparing the quantitative variables with SPSS.15 software. Results: The results of research in the two treatment groups show that real reflex zone therapy can reduce the behavioral symptoms by 20% though such reduction does not show a statistically significant difference (p=0.16). Conclusion: According to the results, although the effect of this method of the behavioral part of this syndrome was not significant, regarding the results of other researches for the effectiveness of this method of decreasing the PMS, it is hoped to use for reducing the symptoms by more researches in this area of complementary medicine together with other common treatments in gynecological areas like other advanced countries. Keywords: Sole Reflexology (Reflex Zone Therapy), Premenstrual Syndrome, Behavioral symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.