What is the history of reflexology?
Reflexology dates back thousands of years to the Egyptian times, with the earliest discovery being a drawing on the wall of Egyptian physician Ankhamor’s, tomb. The drawing showed four men touching each others feet and hands. The translation reads one man saying, “Don’t hurt me,” and the other replying, “I shall act so you praise me”.
These therapeutic methods were also being used in China, Tibet, Vietnam and Japan, although it is not clear where this holistic therapy originated. There have been many pioneers of Reflexology as we know it today.
In the 1890's, Sir Henry Head, an English neurologist, discovered the link between visceral disease and sensitivity in certain areas of the skin. These later became known as ‘Head zones’ and in 1906, Sir Charles Sherrington published a paper on how the nervous system effects the brain, spinal cord and reflexes around the body. His work demonstrated that the body could adjust to pressure through this reflex action.
Dr William Fitzgerald, an ear, nose and throat specialist began to find a correlation between applying pressure to certain fingers and toes with numbness in other parts of the body. Developing this further and using it as a method for minor surgeries without the need for anesthetic medication, he began to develop the theory behind the ten longitudinal zones in the body. These stretch from the top of the head to the tip of the toes and fingers and are split with 5 zones on each side of the body. In 1917, Fitzgerald and Dr Edwin Bowers published a book called ‘Zone Therapy’ that became the basis of modern reflexology as we know it today.
However, the real development of reflexology was by Eunice Ingham and it was her who named this complementary therapy. As a physiotherapist, Ingham worked for many years with Dr Joe Shelby Riley and his wife at their practice. Dr Riley was particularly interested in Zone Therapy and introduced Ingham to it. From here, her fascination and extensive research developed to the creation of the mapping of the feet and hands we see and use today. Ingham also developed the common ‘thumb and finger walking’ technique. Reflexology grew through the United States and Ingham taught her practice to many, including Doreen Bayly. Bayly bought Reflexology to Great Britain in the early 1960’s and set up The Bayly School of Reflexology in 1978.