Neural Pathways of Applied Reflexology has been successfully accepted as a digital poster presentation at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine conference in Singapore on May 6th, 2024.
Announcement: A digital poster with the following title will be presented: “Neural Pathways of Applied Reflexology using Real-Time Task-Based and Resting-State fMRI in Healthy Controls and Patients with Stroke.”
The accepted conference abstract details the results of highly accelerated fMRI brain scanning as reflexology was applied to the feet in April 2023 of healthy subjects and in September 2023 of subjects who had experienced a stroke.
The goals were: (1) To characterize the somatotopic relationship between cortical activity and sensory stimulation of reflex areas. (2) To assess possible therapeutic effects of reflexology. Scanning was conducted at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine using real-time task-based fMRI and real-time resting-state fMRI, a technology developed by Dr. Stefan Posse at the University of New Mexico. Participating in the research were Dr. Stefan Posse, Kevin Kunz, Barbara Kunz, Dr. Ann van de Winkel, Michael Wolf and Dr. Essa Yacoub.
Preliminary results of the research will be released in May following the event.
Tracey Smith, AoR Head of Reflexology Support and Research says: ‘This is a big step forward, up to now we had very little magnetic resonance imaging of reflexology in action, and for the results to be presented at such a prestigious conference is amazing. We wait patiently until after the conference for the results to be released.’
Well done to this team and to anyone who helped fund the work. The group has raised over $50.000 to carry out this research but is still hoping for further funding so if you wish to be a part of reflexology research in action, at the very simplest of levels; then you can continue to donate here:
Neural Pathways of Applied Reflexology https://www.unmfund.org/fund/npar-fund/
No amount is too small!
