Effect of the reiki and reflexology massage application on patient's quality of life and pain level in diabetic neuropathy pain

This study was conducted as a randomized controlled intervention study with a pre-test-post-test design to evaluate the effects of Reiki and reflexology massage on the patient's quality of life and pain level in diabetic neuropathy pain. The research was conducted between June 2024 and January 2025 at Adana City Hospital Diabetes Polyclinic.The study was completed with 64 patients by dividing the patients into control (n=16), Reiki (n=16), reflexology (n=16) and Reiki and reflexology (n=16) groups using the simple randomization method.Patient Information Form, 4-Question Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire (DN4), VAS-Visual Analog Scale, and Neuropathic Pain Impact on Quality of Life Questionnaire (NePIQOL) were used to collect data in the study.The patients were administered the forms at the beginning of the study. The patients in the intervention group received a total of 12 sessions of Reiki and Reflexology massage, 2 times a week for 6 weeks.The same number of sessions were applied to the Reiki group and the reflexology group. No intervention was made to the control group patients.It was determined that the greatest difference between pre-test and post-test VAS values (p>0.05) was in the Reiki and reflexology groups. In the post-test phase after the study, it was determined that the greatest decrease in pain values was observed in the patient groups to whom Reiki and reflexology were applied in the intervention group, while there was no difference in the pain values of the patients in the control group in the post-test. At the end of the study, there was no significant change in the median values of the control group patients, while there was a significant increase in the median values of the total quality of life of the patients in the intervention groups. The greatest increase was found in both the Reiki and reflexology groups. According to the results of the study, Reiki and reflexology massage are recommended for patients with diabetic neuropathy pain.