Camano Island, WA 98282
425.356.7014 (cell/o)
Lic. MA00014134
FOOT REFLEXOLOGY
Reflexology has been around since the beginning of time. It was widely used in ancient China for centuries. It has been discovered 5,000 years ago in Egyptian hieroglyph on the walls of their tombs (2300 B.C.), in the Medicine Teacher Temple of Japan (690 A.D.) also found in ancient cultures around the world as found in Tibet and India.
The current practice of reflexology is a method of utilizing pressure techniques applied to the feet, hands or ears to provoke a response from the entire body. It has its origins if the exploration of the workings of the nervous system and subsequent discovery of the reflex by the medical community in the last half of the 1800’s. The introduction of Zone Therapy by Dr. William Fitzgerald, an American physician, in the early 1900’s is considered to be influenced by the (then) current studies in Europe into the reflexes. His ideas were carried on through the work of individuals such as Dr. Joseph Riley and physio-therapist Eunice Ingham who applied Zone Therapy to the feet.
Today Reflexology is gaining popularity world wide as a health improvement modality. There are hundreds of medical studies that show that Reflexology can improve a person’s health. Examples are Cancer for instance reflexology has shown to modify the distressing symptoms of pain and nausea in patients hospitalized with cancer. Reflexology has shown positive effects on people with Alzheimer’s, Cardio-vascular problems, Cerebral palsy, children with mental retardation, infants with Colic, Constipation, Coronary heart disease, Diabetes, aids in digestion, Headaches, Pneumonia, post surgical pain, PMS, MS, ear aches, sinusitis, Plantar Fasciitis and the list goes on and on.
Reflexology improves quality of life in Alzheimer’s patients by a reduction on body stiffness and arthritis as well as alleviation of the illness’s symptoms of restlessness and wandering. Older adults experienced significant improvements in mental and physical well-being, including reductions in blood pressure and pain levels. They had considerable improvements in their ability to perform ‘activities of daily living,’ increased psychosocial well-being, and significantly reduced daytime sleepiness and pain. People receiving reflexology on a regular basis reported greatly improved perceptions of control over falls.
Specific reflexology treatment applied to multiple sclerosis patients was of benefit in alleviating motor; sensory and urinary symptoms. 100% of the cancer patients receiving reflexology work benefited from an improvement in quality of life: appearance, appetite, breathing, communication with doctors, family, and nurses, concentration, constipation, diarrhea, fear of future, isolation, micro-nutrition, mobility, mood, nausea, pain , sleep and tiredness.