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| History of reflexology |
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Reflexology is a healing art with origins in ancient China and Egypt several thousand years ago where a form of pressure therapy on the feet was used.
However, reflexology as we know it today was started in the early 20th Century.
In 1913 Dr. William H. Fitzgerald an American ear, nose and throat specialist, began to research a theory of zone therapy. Zone therapy works on the basis that pressure placed on a certain area can inhibit pain in a related area, or "zone". Dr Fitzgerald identified 10 longitudinal zones in the body running from the fingers to the top of the head and down to the soles of the feet. He found that problems within a particular zone were often linked to other parts of the body within that zone. He also found that pressing on a point within the same zone had anaesthetising properties and could be used as pain relief.
Later in the 20th century, American Eunice D. Ingham further developed Fitzgerald's ideas into the 'Ingham Compression Method of Reflexology' where the whole body is treated by applying pressure to the related zones in the feet and hands. It was discovered that 7000 nerve endings could be found in the feet so these were the most effective section of the zone to treat.
The method was introduced to Great Britain in the early 1960s by one of Eunice Ingham's students, Mrs. Doreen Bayly. Mrs Bayly formed a training school 'The Bayly School of Reflexology' and began training other practitioners in the method. After her death, one of her students, Nicola M. Hall, took over the school and later formed the British Reflexology Association in 1986.
Further reading
'Reflexology: A way to better heath' Nicola M Hall
'Reflexology for women' Nicola M Hall
'Reflexology Today' Doreen E Bayly |
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