DOCTORS in Dursley, UK are to offer free complementary therapy sessions to patients in a pilot scheme thought to be a first in Gloucestershire.

Doctors at May Lane surgery are interested in finding out whether herbal remedies, massage, change of diet or reflexology and Reiki may be beneficial to patients for whom orthodox medical treatments have not worked.

Dr Kathy Curtis-Hayward, a partner at May Lane surgery, said: "As a practice, we are constantly looking at ways to encourage people to be more in control of their health, to be aware of how they can better help themselves.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and surgery seem almost inevitable these days for any writing or computer-based profession. But massage therapy may prevent people from going under the knife, as well as relieving headaches, stress and boosting the immune system.

"Ninety percent of the time, carpal tunnel problems come from the neck," said certified massage therapist, Marie Peterson. Whether it's from constant writing, working on the computer or just being a Type A personality, this repetitive motion causes the shoulders to tighten up, she said.

"The tightness goes down the arms and pinches the nerves, cutting them off from circulation," Peterson said. "Using massage, I go in and break up the scar tissue and lengthen and restructure the muscle." And many times this can prevent clients from surgery.

Another therapy that can be used for carpal tunnel syndrome is reflexology.

"What drew me to reflexology is that it's mobile," said certified reflexologist Karyl Clark. "It provides an opportunity to fix a problem anywhere you are."

Reflexology, the act of applying pressure to the feet and hands with specific thumb, finger and hand techniques, has been around for nearly 3,000 years. Although it is not as common in the West as other forms of alternative medicine, many people have found it to be effective. It is also still frequently used in the East for a variety of ills, including eczema and other skin conditions.

How reflexology works is somewhat in question. Some say that reflexology techniques manipulate specific areas of the hands and feet that correspond to parts of the body and that these techniques, in turn, manipulate ‘qi’ - translated from the Chinese as ‘life force’ or ‘spiritual energy.’ Western medicine doesn’t generally acknowlege the existence of life force or spiritual energy, but it is the essence of medicine in many parts of the East.

Forty-six million Americans are currently living with arthritis, the nation's leading cause of disability, and we are all paying a high price for it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that the annual cost of arthritis to the United States economy was $128 billion in 2003 and increased by $20 billion between 1997 and 2003.

CDC attributes the dramatic increase to the aging of the population, predominantly baby boomers, and increased prevalence of arthritis. CDC also estimates an additional 8 million new cases of arthritis will be diagnosed in the next decade.

Here are some interesting clips about Reflexology and Arthritis. Do you know anyone with arthritis? You will be interested in my story if you do. My partner had disabling arthritis, pain and swelling in each of his finger and thumb joints before he became a Reflexologist.

As he practiced Reflexology he noticed that not only were his clients feeling better, but so was he. In less than two years his pain, swelling and disability in his fingers had disappeared. And, to his delight has never returned!

As a Reflexologist there are reflexes in the hands and fingers so that every time you give a session you also receive a session. Talk about a win-win situation!

Here is a report on some Reflexology and Arthritis studies.

Shoulder Arthritis

Forty-two cases of acromioclaviclar (shoulder) arthritis received thirty minute sessions of foot reflexology once a day for 15 days. At the finish, 8 were "cured," 20 were "distinctly effective" and 14 cases were "improved."

Zhi-xian, Ma and Jin-li, Zhang, "Foot Reflexology in the Treatment of Acromioclavicular Arthritis, (19)96 Beijing International Reflexology Conference (Report), China Preventive Medical Association and the Chinese Society of Reflexology, Beijing, 1996, p. 55

PUTTING your feet up is always a treat. And never more so than when pregnant, especially if your tootsies are being expertly massaged by a specially trained therapist.

Maternity reflexology can be a little slice of pampering heaven -- or so say expectant mothers-to-be.

What makes it even better is that this therapy is endorsed by maternity hospitals including the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin's Holles St as the evidence mounts of its benefits, especially in labour.

It is said to encourage the body's innate ability to restore a healthy balance during this challenging and changing time for your body.

Can a foot massage improve your general health?

Well the Ancient Egyptians, Indians and Chinese all believed it could. It was these civilisations that first developed the complementary therapy we know today as reflexology.

Photographer, Lloyd Wright, who accompanied me on this job, is one of them. He had a kidney transplant 18 months ago after more than two years of dialysis. He says the first person to suggest he had “bad kidneys”, a year or two before his medical diagnosis, was a reflexologist.

Similarly, a medical friend told me of a patient who first discovered a breast lump after it was suggested to her during a reflexology session that she may have a problem in that area. It planted a seed that made her go and do a self-examination . . . and could have saved her life.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies are about to change reflexology, providing illustration of some of reflexology's basic tenets. In three separate studies, Hong Kong researchers explored with fMRI what happens in the brain when pressure or technique is applied to specifc reflex areas of the left foot. Their finding: the specific parts of the brain activated by such work correlates with reflexology's theory and intended use.

In one study, reflexology applied to a specific part of the foot activated the reflected area. Specifically technique stimulation applied to the inner lateral corner of the left great toe activated the right temporal lobe, the part of the brain related to the reflex area. of the brain inner lateral corner of the left great toe to see if this would activate the part of the brain reflected by this reflex area, the right temporal lobe.

Alica Hart-Davis learns a few rules about reflexology: 'So is this bit the solar plexus?" I ask, burrowing vaguely into the middle of my daughter Beth's right foot and trying to see where Rosanna Bickerton, my reflexology teacher, is pressing on Beth's left foot.

Hands-on help for Beth's feet. "A bit higher, Mummy," pipes up Beth. "And would you mind not using your thumbnail?" There's a lot to get to grips with when you are trying to learn the basics of reflexology in an afternoon.

I have known Rosanna for a while. So when I bumped into her recently and moaned that my children were always suffering from one virus or another, she didn't hesitate.

"Sounds like they need their immune systems boosting," she said. "Bring them to me. I'll show you what you need to do."

Yet more good news for sun worshippers and those who eat plenty of oily fish: the vitamin D derived from either activity reduces your risk of heart disease and increases your survival chances if you have cancer.

These latest benefits from the ‘sunshine vitamin’ follow the discovery announced several weeks ago that the vitamin also reduces the risks of epilepsy.