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 Pain Management in Reflexology

(Carol Samuel, PhD. Cert-Ed, MAR, FFHT)

Although pain is valuable to us because it tells us of impending danger; in its chronic form it serves no useful purpose but it nonetheless affects millions of people worldwide with significant implications on quality of life and on the resources of the medical profession ^{1 2}.  In today's society it appears to be a general consequence of ageing and ill health, thus producing devastating effects for sufferers and their families.  Pain is not however a simple sensory experience; it is also an emotional, social and cognitive one in which it can affect a person's attitude, belief and appraisal of pain.  

It is described by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as an unpleasant sensation that may be linked to potential or actual tissue damage, and which may possess both physical and emotional experiences. In short, pain is often difficult to describe and sometimes the terminology used cannot, and does not provide justice to the actual pain experience. There are no objective measurements available for pain, no regular blood tests or dipstick tests and that means that it is an extremely personal phenomenon which can be described only by the person experiencing it ^{2 3}.