Global Effect of Reflexology

(This synopsis of the research study presentation made by Dr. Piquemal was prepared by Christine Issel and appeared in
the ICR Newsletter, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 2006, page 18-19, and is reprinted below with permission of ICR.)
In his research study Dr. Piquemal was able to demonstrate a statistical correlation between five
selective reflexology areas of the feet and the dermatomes of the nervous system (dermatomes are
innervation of skin segments based on fetal development). That is the effect of reflexology, the
expansion of blood vessels, goes beyond the area stimulated and extends to other skin zones and
organs in a coherent pattern. Changes were measured using an infra cooled systems connected to a
digital video card to a computer.
A Reflexology session was applied to 9 subjects of different social, economical, linguistic, and cultural
backgrounds. Each patient was taken to a quiet temperature-controlled room without airflow
convection and far removed from artificial light, seated without their clothes on the upper portion of
their body and rested for 20 minutes. The first infrared picture was taken. Then the patient laid on his
back and rested. Ten minutes later a second thermograpic picture was taken of both soles. A
reflexotherapy treatment followed for 20 minutes. 10 minutes after the session, a new thermographic
picture of the sole was taken. The patient then sat for another 20 minutes and a thermographic picture
of the spinal column was taken.
This thermographic data was subsequently converted to a matrix. Thermal changes in both zones (right
sole and right paravertebral zone) were converted to a standardized averaged pixel value process in
order to be compared and evaluated. Five related organ-skin zones were selected, by a computer
program, on both the sole and their counterparts on back, upon which to build a 2X5 numerical
thermal matrix for each subject. Thermal changes in both zones (right sole and corresponding zone on
the back) were compared. A statistical correlation was established between five cutaneous selective
zones of two distant somatotopies (sole and dermatoma). Results of the statistical process showed that
change in the thermal pattern on the sole was reflected on the skin of the back for each of the five
selected zones. A correlative statistical lead, based on the five rows matrix (organs skin projected
zones), computed a coefficient of correlation varying from 0.52 to 0.88. Results of the statistical
process for the limited population has shown that change in thermal pattern on soles are reflected on
the back for each of the five selected zones related to the five skin organ projection of the lung, liver,
stomach, pancreas, and small intestine.
A clear correlation appeared after the reflexotherapy session for each subject regarding blood flow
distribution for the sole and its counterpart on the back for the five cutaneous zones studied. It is
theorized that the manual skin pressure upon the sole is integrated by sub cortical and/or cortical
structures and effected not only at a local level, but also the global level. Information (i.e., the
mechanical pressure as one form of energy is converted into another as a nervous flux) is then
dispatched from these integrative structures via the autonomic nervous system. This effect acting on
blood distribution of inner organs as seen on the dermis of the back as thermal changes is reflected inthe blood flow as either vasodilation or vasoconstriction. The mechanism of action of reflexology
seems to act by blood flow redistribution of the autonomic nervous system using presumably a higher
integrative nervous structure. Therefore, reflexology appears to be, at least for these five organs, a
good therapy for regulating functional blood flow disturbance to these inner organs.
Dr . EE. Marc Piquemal, Casilla Correo 2899, Asuncion, Paraguay
e-mail : bioconsulta@quanta.com.py
www.quanta.net.py/biofisica