Reflexology Takes a Broadside from BBC

A recently broadcast BBC program touted its "scientific" look at reflexology and reflexologists around the world are crying foul. The British media and Internet skeptics had a field day with the view of reflexology presented by Professor Kathy Sykes. The BBC three-part mini-documentary series "Alternative Therapies" featured the Bristol University physicist taking a "scientific" look at reflexology, meditation and hypnotherapy. On March 24, 2008 it was the turn of reflexology to go under the microscope.

(Disclosure: We did not see the program and we are depending on observations of others in writing this article.)

Reflexologists responded to the program with concern to what they viewed to be a negative and unfair portrayal of their work. Concerns included: the image of reflexology was tarnished and reflexology research was ignored. As one British reflexologist put it, What do I tell my clients? On-line newspaper reviews of the program ranged from sarcasm(Telegraph.co.uk) to gushing (Tribune.ie).

The Program

The program included interviews with reflexologists at a health fair and Dwight Byers in Florida. Anatomists were interviewed for his scientific opinions. At issue: Is there an explanation for how a reflex area in the foot connects to an organ of the body? If reflexology works by ridding the feet of uric acid crystals, as claimed by the rflexologists interviewed, is there a scientific explanation for this? (The answer to both was, No.) A visit was made to Beverly Hill, CA to measure the relaxation benefit of being massaged. A visit to a Virginia brain scanner showed the effects of being held by someone you trust. It ended at a "cuddling workshop" in Los Angeles. In between Dr. Sykes dismissed 15 reflexology studies without revealing "to the viewer what was in them."

The Fairness Question

In e-mail correspondence, Kevin Kunz questioned the failure to fairly present reflexology research. In response Matthew Barrett, executive producer of the BBC program, wrote:

You deserve - and will receive - a very detailed reply to this. Needless to say, we stand by everything we said in the film and believe that we have accurately summed up the current state of what has actually been established scientifically. Hence the programme was fair and balanced. Just because we reached a conclusion that you did not like does not actually make us biased, or mean that we did not present two sides of the argument or that we did not seek out "the facts." We did all of those things - hence our confidence in our conclusions.

I am perfectly happy to engage in great detail over how we reached our conclusions. However, to give you a reply in the detail that you want, I need to consult the series producer who was the person most closely involved in the research.

Snippets of on-line comments and reports

The program included interviews with reflexologists at a health fair who presented varying views on where reflexology originated and how it works.

..."a couple of air heads at a holistic fair, who seemed to be just out of reflexology school, if indeed any ever attended one" (Sandra Barr MAR (Member of the UK's Association of Reflexologists) "Most (answers to the question of reflexology's history), of course, contained at least one of the usual suspects: the Chinese, Native Americans and, especially, Ancient Egyptians. (After all, if something was done in Egypt 4,000 years ago, it must be medically sound.") (Telegraph)... (answers to the question of how reflexology works included) "healing our chakra systems or removing uric-acid crystals from the soles of our feet") (Telegraph)

Also included was an interview Dwight Byers

"Dwight Byers, the main man when it comes to reflexology in the US. As Dwight gave her a guided tour of his house Kathy looked at the camera and smiled like a kid who had been given free rein in a sweetshop. Dwight couldn't really explain how reflexology worked, but Kathy thought he was "a lovely man" and off she went to continue her quiet crusade." (Tribune)

Furthermore, it turned out that this "ancient" healing system seems to have originated with an imaginative American woman in the 1930s." (Guardian)

"... in Beverly Hills, some big measuring machines proved that being massaged is relaxing. In Virginia, a brain scanner revealed that being held by someone you trust can be comforting." (Telegraph) "She had no problems jetting all over America... she failed to interview anyone from the AOR, which is the UK Association of Reflexologists."

Dr. Sykes interviewed scientific experts.

"... an anatomist (to ask) if the feet are indeed connected in any way to the internal organs. (The answer was delivered at some length, but boiled down to "obviously not".) She tried out the uric acid theory on an expert who explained with impressive politeness that uric acid never crystallizes in the soles of the feet, and couldn't be massaged away if it did." (Telegraph)

"Instead, let's film 10 mins of complete strangers hugging and stoking each other!!" (unknown "Commentary from Telegraph.co.uk)

In a review of the up-coming program, the Guardian noted: "Sykes is too good a scientist to give complementary medicine an easy run. Tonight (March, 24, 2008) she examines reflexology, and gives it pretty short shrift. There are 30,000 reflexologists working on a million British feet a year. They base their work on a theory that parts of the sole of the foot correlate to organs in the body. The only problem is that Sykes could find no one, reflexologist or scientist, who could explain how these correlations might work. Furthermore, it turned out that this "ancient" healing system seems to have originated with an imaginative American woman in the 1930s." (Guardian)