I’m in the middle of a major clear out at home, and have been going through piles of ‘useful’ articles, magazines and clippings that I have carefully stored just in case I should ever need references for this blog or a workshop. The reality of course is that I now have a mighty collection of papers that I have filed away never to be seen again! This week, I finally did a grand purge, but just for fun thought I would share this little nugget of research that not only made me smile, but also left me with so many questions!
According to a 2010 study conducted by researchers in South Korea, there was a “statistically significant increase in communication, intimacy and quality of life” and a “statistically significant decrease in conflict” between couples who gave each other foot massages. The 36 couples who took part in the study were divided into two groups of 18, experimental and control. The couples in the experimental group gave each other foot massages twice a week for 6 weeks.
The research concluded that “foot massage can be applied as a nursing intervention for improvement of marital relationships in immigrant couples”. There is no mention of why the study focused on immigrants, where they had migrated from nor if the study would be repeated with non-immigrant couples.
I think I will just leave that here!
Source: ‘Effects on Couples’ Communication, Intimacy, Conflict and Quality of Life by Foot Massage Between Immigrants’, published in the ‘Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing’, August 2010 .
