What is Reflexology?
Reflexology is a massage technique used on the feet, the hands and on the ears.
By applying pressure on specific reflex points on these parts of the body stimulates other organs of the body.
The most effective treatment is from using the reflex points on the feet.
The History of Reflexology
Reflexology has been around for over thousands of years. Inscriptions made in the tomb of Ankhmahor (am Egyptian physician) have been proved to be the origins of what we know today as Reflexology. These paintings date as far back as 2300 BC. The paintings showed one mans hands on another mans foot and when translated it read
“Don’t hurt me!” and the Physician’s reply was “I shall so you will praise me”
Although Egypt is where foot work healing practices were founded there is evidence of hand and foot therapy in the form of ancient texts, illustrations and artefacts from China, Russia, Japan, North America and India, but none of these date as far back as 2300 BC. They all show various methods and techniques on hands and feet to promote good health.
The Native Americans of North America also used techniques of applying pressure to the feet to heal the whole body. These teachings were, and still are, passed down through the generations.
Modern techniques of applying pressure on specific regions of the feet have only been used for the past 100 years or so. Before this it was known as Zone Therapy. It was Dr William H Fitzgerald who developed the zone therapy using scientific knowledge. Dr Joseph Shelby Riley assisted Dr Fitzgerald in his findings and also conducted his own research, writing many books on zone therapy. Dr Riley discovered the horizontal zones in 1919 working specifically with facial and ear points. The first diagrams of reflex points on the feet where drawn by Dr Riley.
Between the 1930’s and 1940 a physiotherapist, Eunice Ingham, working for Dr Riley was convinced by Dr Riley’s findings that zone therapy could be used to ease pain that she used zone therapy in her work with patients. Eunice Ingham further developed that zone therapy on the feet to what is known as Reflexology. Eunice Ingham had used hundreds of patients in her research to determine that reflex points on the feet were an exact mirror image of the organs of the body.
Reflexology is still thought of as Zone Therapy in different parts of the world but there are two different therapies. Zone therapy relies exclusively on the zones to determine the area to be worked but reflexology uses these zones with a map of the organs of the body to establish the area(s) to be worked.
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