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Reflexology Information

History

The history of Reflexology dates back 5,000 years to Ancient Egypt, India, China and South America. In 1913 Dr. William Fitzgerald introduced 'zone therapy' to the western world. He divided the body into ten longitudinal zones and discovered applying pressure on areas of the feet within these zones had an affect on other areas and organs within these zones of the body.

A Japanese study into reflexology has made a significant breakthrough in establishing a scientific link between reflexology areas in the foot and parts of the human brain. Research using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain activity of people undergoing reflexology, is the first study of its kind and offer evidence that difference in the brain can be made by stimulating specific areas of the feet.

Three reflex areas on the left foot, relating to the eye, shoulder, and the intestines were stimulated during the experiment. Statistical analysis showed that stimulation of the foot reflex areas corresponding to the eye, shoulder, and small intestine activated not only the brain area corresponding with the foot, but also the areas corresponding to the eye, shoulder, and small intestine or neighbouring body parts. Thus, the findings showed that reflexology stimulated areas of the brain and that a fMRI approach can be used to examine the basis of reflexology effects.You can download the full details from this site at  Reflexology research
In the 1930's Eunice Ingham further developed the zone therapy by carefully mapping the organs of the body to areas of the feet. She noticed how congestion in parts of the feet where mirrored in corresponding parts of the body.
Over the years there have been many theories on how reflexology may work. The generally accepted view is that the working of the foot stimulates the nerve endings which affect the cells and organs in other parts of the body. To date this has been difficult to prove.