LANSING — A Michigan State University researcher wants to know if a natural healing therapy will help women cope with treatment for late-stage breast cancer.

A $3 million National Institutes of Cancer grant will pay for a five-year study of Michigan breast cancer patients treated with reflexology, a massage-like technique that puts pressure on specific points on the soles of the feet or on the hands. The hope is that it will ease stress, depression, anxiety and side effects of treatment.

Gwen Wyatt, a professor of nursing and the principal investigator for the study, said a pilot five years ago of 100 cancer patients at the Western Michigan Cancer Center in Kalamazoo found that reflexology was the most promising among complementary therapies given in addition to conventional treatments.

The pilot also looked at guided imagery, which uses healing images, and reminiscence therapy, where patients recall times they’ve overcome challenges in their lives.

Wyatt stressed that the therapies aren’t being promoted as alternatives to conventional treatment.

“We’re not curing the cancer,” Wyatt said. “We’re really on the human side of it, trying to help them deal with the emotions and hopefully fewer symptoms or decreased severity of symptoms.”

Wyatt said cancer treatment centers are starting to add amenities, such as massage, to give patients something to look forward to rather than just dreading the next round of chemotherapy.

Gary McMullen, vice president of the American Cancer Society, Great Lakes Division, said his group only recommends medical treatments that are scientifically proven. Reflexology is not proven for medical treatment, he said, adding that more research on its ability to enhance quality of life needs to be conducted. “I think it’s worthwhile that these complementary things be looked at and figured out,” he said.

“…There’s a lot of needs, emotional, spiritual, financial, that are left in the wake of a battle with any serious illness,” he said. “How do we get people back on track?”

The pilot study found that women who received reflexology reported they still had symptoms of anxiety, depression and physical side effects from chemotherapy, but they were lessened, Wyatt said.

The theory behind reflexology is that certain areas of the feet correspond to different areas of the body and by stimulating nerves, symptoms are decreased.

Barbara Brower, an Okemos reflexologist with 25 years’ experience, is helping Wyatt with the research and identifying trained reflexologists.

She said reflexology can reduce stress, improve circulation and release toxins that are built up during chemotherapy. The practice is not regulated in Michigan. It cost $50 to $65 for an hour-long session.

She said her profession, once routinely scoffed at by medical practitioners, has become more mainstream in the last decade. “I have physicians that come to me,” she said.

For the first time this fall, an interdisciplinary class offered by the two MSU medical schools and the nursing school gives an overview of the complementary therapies, Wyatt said.

While insurance doesn’t cover reflexology treatment, pretax dollars can be set aside in medical savings accounts, Wyatt said.  For patients in the study, however, the research grant will pay for four sessions each.

Wyatt is recruiting patients from cancer centers around the state including the West Michigan Cancer Center in Kalamazoo, the Great Lakes Cancer Institute’s clinics at the Bay Regional Medical Center in Bay City and the McLaren Regional Medical Center in Flint, and the Lacks Cancer Center at St. Mary’s in Grand Rapids. Other clinics are in Lansing, Traverse City and Detroit. The first treatments should start in January 2006.