REFLEXOLOGY IN THE WESTERN WORLD

The origins of reflexology as we know it has its origins in the study of zone therapy, which utilises the longitudinal lines of energy which run through the body from the feet to the brain and down the arms.  There are ten zones, 5 on each side of the body, and it is believed that by applying pressure to the zones, all organs within that zone are affected. Also, by working on specific points along the zone, it is possible to predict which other parts of the body will be affected.
Dr William Fitzgerald was the main pioneer of zone therapy in the West in the early 20th century. He was a medical doctor and he noticed that by applying pressure over certain points of the toes and hands, he could cause a type of anaesthesia in a limited area.  This enabled him to carry out minor operations on the nose and throat without using local analgesics and without causing pain to his patients.
A colleague of Dr Fitzgerald, by Dr Edwin bowers, helped develop the theory, he decided on the term Zone Therapy.
Dr Joe Riley and his wife Elizabeth, supporters of the zone therapy theories used the techniques in their school of chiropractic. It was the Rileys who first refined the techniques and made the first detailed drawings of the reflex points of the feet. Elizabeth Riley first discovered the "hooking in " technique to work the zones.
It was the Rileys' school of chiropractic that Eunice Ingham, a physiotherapist, first heard of the therapy that was to change her life.  She was fascinated by the effects and introduced reflexology into her department of physiotherapy at a Florida hospital.  She was amazed at the response of her patients who experienced a decrease in pain, improved mobility and a natural speeding of the body's healing processes after surgery.


Eunice Ingham was the first person to separate reflexology from zone therapy.  She did this because she felt that the feet should be specific targets for therapy because of their highly sensitive nature.
In the 1930's Eunice Ingham resigned from her hospital job to set up a private reflexology practice. people came from all over America for treatments from her.
Eunice Ingham wrote the first reflexology book and set up the first school of reflexology to train others in the therapy. she died in 1952 and her work continues through the efforts of her nephew Dwight byers who runs the Institiute of Reflexology in St Petersburg..