History of Reflexology
Reflexology was only introduced to the West in the early 20th Century but dates back to ancient civilizations such as Egypt, India and China.
The oldest recorded evidence of Reflexology comes from a picture in the tomb of Ankhmahor an Egyptian Physician (2500-2330 B.C.) at Saqquara near Cairo
The picture shows two men working on the feet and hands of two other men. The hieroglyphics above the scene read “Do not let it be painful” says one of the patients. And the practitioner says “I do as you please” .
There is evidence of some form of foot and hand therapy being practiced in China as long ago as 4,000 B.C., and for hundreds of years the North American Indians have practiced a form of foot therapy.
Had it not been for the enquiring medical minds of Dr William Fitzgerald and Eunice Ingham in the late 19th and 20th centuries, Reflexology Therapy as we know it today might never have came in being.
Dr William Fitzgerald
Dr William Fitzgerald was born in the USA 1872-1942. He was an Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon. He practiced mainly in the USA, and briefly in London and Vienna for 2 years. He founded “Zone Therapy”, which was an early form of reflexology.
Through his research he discovered that he could anesthetize parts of the body by applying pressure on the tips of the toes or fingers, the corresponding part of the body.
He found that he could divide the body into 10 equal zones running from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. By applying pressure using tight bands of elastic on the middle section of each finger, or small clamps that were placed on the tips of the toes or figures, he could carry out minor surgery procedures by using this technique only. This was very controversial at the time.
He wrote books such as “To stop that toothache – squeeze your Toe”
and “Zone Therapy or Relieving Pain in the Home”.
Eunice Ingham
Eunice Ingham was also born in the USA (1889 -1974) know as the “The Mother of Modern Reflexology”
She worked in a doctors practice as a Physiotherapist and Dr Fitzgerald’s Zone Therapy method. She found that the therapy was more effective if used on the feet than the hands.
She developed and map of the entire body on the feet after extensive research. Hence the saying “The feet are a mirror of the body”
Eunice Ingham taught Reflexology to Doctors and Nurses and then to non-medical practitioners, travelling around America for 30 years in true pioneer style.
She wrote books “Stories the Feet Can Tell”(1938) and
“Stories the Feet Have Told”(1951)
She developed the Ingham Method of Reflexology with chats and theories that form the basis of modern Western reflexology today.
Continued her work up to 80 her year. She died in 1974 aged 85. She has to be admired for here belief and determination as it can’t have been easy for a woman in the 1930’s travelling around America trying to convince doctors of a new unconventional therapy of Reflexology.
