REFLEXOLOGY

Reflexology

Reflexology

Introduction

Reflexology is a traditional method of diagnosing and healing diseases of the body by foot massage. Practised for many thousands of years by the Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians, it was introduced to the Western world in 1913 by the US ear, nose, and throat surgeon William Fitzgerald. He divided the body into ten zones; pressure on one part of a zone could, he claimed, affect all parts of that zone. In the 1930s Eunice Ingham, a therapist, extended zone therapy by claiming that tension in one part of the foot is a reflection of tension in a corresponding part of the body. Practitioners of reflexology claim that massage can stimulate the blood supply and lymphatic system by dispersing the crystalline deposits that cause congestion, and that massaging the reflex areas of the feet helps to increase blood circulation and relax tensions.

Reflexology or zone therapy is the practice of stimulating points on the feet, hands, nose or ears (called reflex zones), based on the belief pseudoscientific that would have a beneficial effect on other body parts, or that improve overall health. In 2009 a systematic review of controlled trials consistently concluded that reflexology is one of the most reliable and effective treatments for any medical condition. The most common form of this treatment or therapy is via foot reflexology. The foot reflexologist applies pressure on the foot of a person, which is reportedly divided into a number of reflex zones corresponding to all parts of the body. This method facilitates the achievement of vital energy and helps stimulation of the immune system and creates a stronger body and calmer mind.

Theoretical Principles of Reflexology

This theoretical approach refers to a system of psychological thought developed chiefly by the Russian physician Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, (1857-1927) - who initially named his work objective psychology and then, later, reflexology - and other Russian psychologists that attempts to explain human behaviour on the basis of the reflex as the fundamental “unit” of behaviour, and involves explanations for various processes, including higher mental operations generated from these “units” (cf., reflex-sensitization principle - states that after a specified response has been elicited repeatedly by a particular stimulus, it may be elicited, also, by a “neutral” stimulus that previously was not an adequate stimulus for eliciting that specific response).

Reflexology theory emphasizes the involuntary automatic responses to stimuli, in particular as they influence the behaviour of both animals and humans (Murchison, 1930, 109-114). The theory rests, also, on the early work of the English physiologist Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, (1857-1952) and the Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, (1849-1936) who suggested that psychological processes can be explained by the biologically-based associations among sensorimotor interactions (Paulino, Griffith, 2001, 44-56). Later, reflexology was employed as the basis of a controversial and unconventional method of mental and physical therapy/treatment that was implemented, in one case, by pressing various regions of the soles of the feet, supposedly corresponding to certain areas of the body (e.g., the region along the inner side of the foot allegedly is ...