Reflexology

Hannah Boot

Sarah Davies

Joanna Jakubowska

Laila Larsen

Lynsey Maher

Leilah Porter

Katy Powell
Catherine Spiteri

Reflexology is a form of natural, holistic therapy that uses the techniques of human therapeutic touch and interaction to bring about its results. It seeks to work on the body’s own natural innate healing efforts. However reflexology does not claim to diagnose disease or attempt to treat or cure specific medical conditions. It does help to reconnect and restore the balance between our mind, body and emotions and to help to maintain these connections to optimal levels. It can induce a state of relaxation that can counteract the negative effects of daily stress.

Reflexology should not be confused with general foot and hand massage as it uses very specific pressure techniques applied to reflex points on the feet, hands or ears. This works using the theory that the body’s tissues, systems and organs are all reflected on the feet and through using specific manipulations and pressure applied by the thumbs and forefingers that the body’s own healing response can be activated, helping to integrate our mind, body and emotions.

Over the last two decades reflexology has become an established form of natural healing that is now gaining wide acceptance in the Western World. There appear to have been several indicators of early forms of foot care, notably in China and Japan, however the most chronicled has been a pictogram found in the Egyptian tomb of Ankmahor (a physician who was second only the pharoh) at Sappra, it is thought to date to around 2500 b.c. It has six carvings that show child birth, circumcision, dentistry, pharmacology, embalming and reflexology.

In Europe there are many examples of work on reflexes in the 1800’s chiefly and most widely recognised is the work of Dr William Fitzgerald, who has been accredited with being the founder of Zone therapy. He applied pressure to the hand, and then went on to stick pins in the area of the face that had become anesthetised by the pressure that had been applied to the hand.

Perhaps more widely known is Eunice Ingham, she pioneered reflexology that we know and use today. Having charted the foot, separating the reflexes into zones and noting the affects that these reflexes have on the rest of the body.

A treatment usually takes up to an hour after the initial consultation. As a reflexology treatment helps to activate the body’s own healing system, naturally the client can feel a form of response or reaction as the body starts to normalise, these responses can include increase urination and bowel movements, increased perspiration, tearfulness, tiredness and feeling weepy.

Above all it should be noted that Reflexology is a wonderfully beneficial therapy that has found it place in modern society that finds itself under increasing stress levels due to pressure put upon our daily lives.