Reflexology History
Early Reflexology History
No one culture can claim to have discovered Reflexology because people have
used different forms of working on the feet to effect health all over the world
since the beginning of time. Evidence of working on the feet has been found in
the form of drawings and statues in the countries of Indian, Japan, China and
part of Europe. Using the feet as a source of healing can be traced back to
several different American Indian tribes and the earliest evidence of
therapeutic work on hands and feet has been found in Egypt in the form of wall
drawings in the Physician's tomb, 2500 year BC. Marco Polo, and other
missionaries to China, are credited with bringing the ancient Chinese massage
technique into Europe.
Throughout the history of humankind the feet have played an important part of
healing practices. Reflexology goes back to As information is gathered it seems
that variations of the modern practice of reflexology existed in all of the
ancient healing cultures.
2500 BC
Evidence of the use of pressure points on the feet was found in Egypt in the
tombs of Ankhmahor (highest official after the Pharaoh) at Saqqara, which is
also known as the Physician's Tomb.
107 AD
One of the earliest records of a formalized system was developed by a Chinese
doctor called Dr Wang Wie. He had a human figure cast in Bronze. On this
he marked the points used for Acupuncture. This is where a qualified
practitioner positions needles in the appropriate points in the body.
690 AD
Traces of the practice dating back to 690 AD were also found in the
Physicians Temple in Nara, Japan.
Modern history and the scientific basis of reflexology are rooted in research
about the reflex in Europe and Russia 125 years ago.
1890's - 1920's
Physicians in Germany began to look at physiological reflex action. They
began to look at treating Disease through massage and developed techniques known
as reflex massage.
In the 1890's knighted research scientist and medical doctor, Sir Henry
Head demonstrated the neurological relationship that exists between the skin and
the internal organs.
Nobel prize-winner, Sir Charles Sherrington proved that the whole nervous
system and body adjusts to a stimulus when it is applied to any part of the
body.
Zone Therapy
Dr William Fitzgerald deserves the credit for establishing the basis of
modern Reflexology. He discovered the zones and developed a treatment called
Zone Therapy. Fitzgerald noticed while treating patients for the same disorder
with a minor operation that some would feel great pain and others very little.
He investigated this and discovered that some patients were producing
anaesthetic effects upon themselves by applying pressure to areas of the body.
He tested these theories on his patients. He found that if pressure was applied
on the fingers it would create an anaesthetic effect on the hand, arm &
shoulder, right up to the jaw, ear & nose! He carried out minor surgery using
this knowledge. Using this he worked out the zones in the body, which we use
today.
Fitzgerald and his colleague Edwin Bowers tried to convince colleagues of the
validity of the therapy. They used to apply pressure to the person's hand then
stick a needle into the part of the face, which they knew to be anaesthetised!
In 1915 Bowers wrote his first article to publicly declare the effects of
Zone Therapy entitled 'Stop the Toothache, Squeeze your toe'.
In 1917 the book 'Zone Therapy' was published. It was not well received
throughout the medical profession (some things don't really change!) However,
one physician called Joseph Riley was impressed with the findings. It was his
research assistant Eunice Ingham who made the greatest contribution to modern
Reflexology.
1930
Eunice Ingham, an American physiotherapist, further developed this theory in the
1930’s with her “Reflex Method of Compression Massage†| 
