Therapeutic Reflexology is often a last resort for desperate people after they have tried everything else to deal with a specific health condition, so patients visit with extremely high expectations, but what if Therapeutic Reflexology does not work? In today’s post, we’ll consider what to do when Therapeutic Reflexology seems not to be working.
Let’s begin by clarifying what Therapeutic Reflexology is and what it is not. People sometimes have a misconception about what Therapeutic Reflexology is and what it can do.
Therapeutic Reflexology is a registered healthcare modality in South Africa and formally regulated by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA). As a healthcare modality, you should be aware of the fact that there are no guarantees that Therapeutic Reflexology will be successful, just like no medical doctor or medical specialist or physiotherapist or any other healthcare professional can guarantee success when you consult with them. As a healthcare modality, Therapeutic Reflexology has many benefits to your overall health and wellbeing, but it may not be the results or solutions you are hoping for. Please keep that in mind when reading the rest of the post.
Therapeutic Reflexology is a healthcare modality that does not treat specific health conditions, thus if you are experiencing headaches, the Therapeutic Reflexology does not directly treat the headache. What Therapeutic Reflexology can do, is to help your body to relax and to heal itself from the inside out or at least try to balance itself from the inside out. The Therapeutic Reflexology does not treat the health condition, but it helps the body to restore homeostasis or balance. It is not the Therapeutic Reflexologist doing the balancing, the therapist merely assists your body to come into an optimum relaxed state in order to balance itself. In the process of the body healing or balancing itself, you may experience relief of symptoms like headaches. However, each person reacts differently to treatment so there is no generic answer as to whether you will experience the desired results you are hoping for.
As with any healthcare treatment, you will need to experience the treatment and see what the results are in your situation.
Sometimes patients visit the Therapeutic Reflexologist for one treatment session and then do not obtain the desired results and then decide to discontinue further sessions. It remains your choice, but you should be aware of the fact that just because you have not seen the desired results after one session, it is not necessarily an indication that Therapeutic Reflexology is not working for you. Take note that Therapeutic Reflexology is a complementary healthcare modality and a therapy that sometimes takes time. You may need a few sessions before you see any good results. When considering Therapeutic Reflexology, make peace with the fact that if you want to give it a fair chance, you should be willing to receive a few sessions and normally not only one. Sometimes people are fortunate to experience good results after just one or two treatments, but other people may have to receive a few sessions before experiencing results.
It is often said that if you lived an unhealthy lifestyle and caused an illness condition in your body after living unhealthy for 5 years, do not expect a healthcare professional to fix it in just one session; it may take up to 5 years before your body can restore itself; that is, if it can.
Do not have unrealistic expectations about Therapeutic Reflexology; it is not a miracle cure, it is a healthcare modality and it may take some time before you are able to experience results.
Let’s take it a step further: Just because you are not experiencing your desired results, it does not mean that the Therapeutic Reflexology is not working. Your body may be working hard restoring balance in areas that you are not aware of or focused on. You may not experience a relief in the headache immediately, but you may experience better sleeping patterns, better bowel movements, a more relaxed attitude or even less stress and the ability to deal with difficult life circumstances better. These may be benefits of the Therapeutic Reflexology although you have not seen any improvement in the headache. Just because you are not getting the results you desire, is not an indication that the Therapeutic Reflexology is not working and improving other parts of your overall wellbeing.
Now, let’s face the big question after you have read and understood all the above information: What if you are experiencing no results from the Therapeutic Reflexology? It does happen that some people may not experience any results or what they perceive as any mentionable results. Should you continue with the Therapeutic Reflexology or discontinue further sessions?
Good question. This is something you should be discussing with your Therapeutic Reflexologist. A maximum of 10 sessions are usually recommended and if you do not experience any mentionable results within the 10 sessions, then your Therapeutic Reflexologist may need to refer you to another healthcare professional. Maybe Therapeutic Reflexology is not the correct healthcare modality for your specific condition. It is usually said that a maximum of 10 Therapeutic Reflexology sessions are needed to make a good informed decision, but personally, I like to continuously monitor the results or lack of results in patients and we may have this discussion after 3 to 5 treatment sessions.
Keep in mind that as a registered healthcare professional, the Therapeutic Reflexologist is part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team and in a position to effectively refer you to a different healthcare professional that may be able to deal with your situation more appropriately. However, just because you have been referred, you may still choose to continue with Therapeutic Reflexology sessions even while under the treatment of a different healthcare professional. This is a personal choice, but just because the Therapeutic Reflexology did not provide you with the results you desired, it does not mean that it did not help in reducing and keeping your overall stress levels under control.
Therapeutic Reflexology is one of the best modalities to reduce your stress and effectively manage your stress levels and since about 85% of all known illnesses are either caused or worsened by stress, it may be beneficial for you to continue using Therapeutic Reflexology for control stress in your life.
Please speak to your Therapeutic Reflexologist if you have any concerns about the effectiveness of Therapeutic Reflexology. Your Therapeutic Reflexologist is a professional and will not be offended if you share your concerns about the effectiveness of the treatment or if you are considering discontinuing treatment or even if you want to adjust the frequency of treatment.
In my own life, I received one Therapeutic Reflexology treatment per week when I was dealing with specific health conditions, but presently I am more in line with the general trend of receiving one treatment session per month in order to maintain my health and wellbeing and then to increase the sessions to one every two weeks during times of higher stress in my life. For me, the benefit of receiving regular Therapeutic Reflexology sessions far outweigh the cost of the sessions as I’m able to better manage my stress levels which helps me to be much more productive in my daily life.
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Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude) [IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243