Reflexology

Reflexologists believe that the feet and hands mirror or 'reflect' the body. The big toe, for example, reflects the head and brain and a reflexologist would work on this to relieve headache.

The combination of massage, pressure and pinching over all parts of the feet, and in some cases the hands, can produce deep relaxation. For this reason if nothing else, reflexology is one of the most popular complementary therapies, and is found in NHS cancer centres, pain clinics and special care baby units.

Forms of foot massage appear to date back to ancient China and Egypt, but reflexology as practised today was introduced in 1915 by Dr William H. Fitzgerald, a US ear, nose and throat specialist. Known at the time as 'zone therapy', it was based on the theory that energy flows in vertical zones through the body, from the head to the feet, and pressure applied to a reflex point on the foot can affect all the organs, glands, bones and muscles in that zone.

In the 1930s, Eunice Ingham, a US physiotherapist, mapped the reflex points on the feet and developed techniques for stimulation. One of her students, Doreen Bayley, introduced reflexology to the UK in the 1960s and its popularity has spread rapidly.

How does it work?
Zones on the left side of the body are said to correspond to reflex points on the left foot and hand, and those on the right to the right foot and hand. Picture the sole of the foot as the body, with the big toe representing the head. The lungs are somewhere around the ball of the foot and the waist is a line crossing the instep. and the small intestine and bladder towards the heel.