‘Shoe-smell’ to control epilepsy – myth or reality?

Dr. Harinder Jaseja, who is Associate Professor of Physiology at the Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, India, has undertaken one of the very few studies investigating the efficacy (or otherwise) of ‘shoe smell’ to control epileptic attacks. Out of a group of 32 epilepsy sufferers, 3 were given the opportunity to use the smelling shoe-smell treatment. There was some indication that the smellers’ epileptic attacks tended to be shorter than the non-smellers. However, the professor issues a strong caution regarding the interpretation of the results.

“This brief study is not intended to promote the application of shoe-smell as a remedial measure for controlling epileptic attacks; it is merely an attempt to bring its prevalence and claimed-efficacy into light and in view of which it is strongly recommended that a larger and wider study be conducted to study this form of therapy and its effectiveness in patients with epilepsy with modern designing and corroborative neuroimaging studies for a more comprehensive assessment of its prevalence.”

His paper is available in full here : ‘Shoe-smell Application as a First-aid Interventional Measure in Controlling Epileptic Attacks in an Urban Population in India: A Fortuitous Empirical Finding’ (in : WebmedCentral NEUROLOGY 2010;1(9):WMC00791)

Bonus: The professor has also examined :‘Alien Communication: A Plausible Telepathic Mode’