Zone Therapy

Reflexology is a very specialized form of massage, which, its advocates claim, is able to restore normalcy of function and give relief from pain to virtually any part of the body. Little or no attention has been paid to this therapy by serious investigators, but lately there has been some interest in it, due entirely to the growing popularity of the related therapy of acupuncture.

The two basic modes of this therapy are foot reflexology, which is probably the best known, and hand reflexology. Together, they are also known as zone therapy. This art has had a rather strange history, the term zone flexology having been coined by William H. Fitzgerald, M.D., some 80 years ago. Shortly thereafter, it was further popularized and systematized by Edwin F. Bowers, M.D. In the 20s and 30s, it seems to have been taken up with some eagerness by naturopaths, although these practitioners had so many different modes of therapy at their disposal, ranging from phytotherapy (plants) to heliotherapy (sunshine) that they did not seem to have been particular excited about reflexology.

The art was then taken up by a masseuse, Eunice Ingham, who developed what she called the Ingham Reflex Method of Compression Massage, whose principles she elucidated in a number of privately printed book. Her students and followers set themselves up as "foot reflexologist", and a handful of them still practice in relative obscurity.

The peculiar thing about reflexology is not that is might work, but that there is no good reason why it should not work. At least, anyone who has read the numerous reports on ear acupuncture would probably feel this way.

In ear acupuncture, or auriculotherapy, there is the assumption that on the outer surface of the ear there exist points that are connected to many other points on and in the human body. In fact, these points on the ear are distributed in a pattern that reflects the shape of the human fetus in situ. In other words, the lobe of the ear approximately represents the head. As you move up the ear, you reach points of the body that are closer to the feet. However peculiar this may sound, the fact is that top oriental and Western practitioners of acupuncture have used ear acupuncture with what they claim to gratifying success.

In reflexology, the bottom of the feet, rather than the ears, is believed to contain points connected to all other parts of the body.

Imaging that someone is lying on a table in front of you, face up, with his feet together. As you look at his feet, imaging that both of them, put together, are a "map" of the body in which the toes represent the head area, the ball of the feet the solar plexus area, the arch of the feet the intestines, and so on. You are now seeing things the way a zone therapist does.

A Reflexology Massage Map of the Foot

Let's say you have a headache. The thing to do is vigorously massage the fleshy underpart of the big toe. Do you have an earache?  Move over to the fourth toe, drop down an inch, and rub like the dickens. (If it's your right ear that hurts, rub your right foot.) Backache? The inner part of the arch on both feet represents the spine, so massage there, a few inches up from the heel. Very basically, this is how a reflexologist goes about his business.

One definite result of the treatment is that your feet become very sore. In fact, one method of locating the right point to massage is to apply strong pressure to various portions of your foot until you find a point that hurts. You are then supposed to begin rubbing and "worked out the tenderness."

Although it may sound paradoxical to apply strong pressure to a point on your foot that hurts, that is exactly what the usual home treatment is for ordinary aching feet. 

Toxin Release by Reflexology 

It's not unusual to feel fatigue and sleepy after the reflexological treatment. The results after the treatment are different for each individual depends on type of illness, how hard and how long the treatment is etc. For a healthy person, the treatment could help revitalize his body and make him feel more energetic and vital. On the other hand, a person with certain kind of illness, his pressure point connected to that trouble organ would hurt pretty badly when being pressed. If  the treatment takes too long it would have adverse effect since the human body can only only endure so much pain for so long. The regular treatment should last between 7-10 minutes for each pressure point and no more than that. Taking a short nap if time allowed after the treatment is strongly advised by the reflexologist.