There is evidence to suggest that a lot of Native American Indian tribes, and primitive tribes in Africa, used to maintain the health of their feet, believing it helped bring about mental, emotional, physical and spiritual balance. The Brazilians used to perform a techniques on the toes known as the Brazilian toe massage to balance the energy channels, while the Chinese developed the meridian system, with acupressure points starting or ending on the feet or hands and running around the whole body, again balancing the energy flow or ‘chi /life force’ to all the major organs.

Reflexology however, only began to develop its popularity at the beginning of the 19th century, after American Dr. W. Fitzgerald and Physiotherapist Eunice Ingham began to experiment by applying pressure to various parts of the feet and hands and recording the effects. Dr Fitzgerald, noted that by applying firm pressure to a particular part of a finger, he could bring about a mild anaesthetic effect enabling him to perform minor surgery. The first modern day chart of reflexology was produced shortly afterwards.

So how are all the organs and parts of the body divided up on the feet? Well it’s actually quite simple: all the organs, glands and parts of the body on the left side of the body are generally represented on the left foot, hand and ear, while the organs, glands and parts of the body on the right side of the body are generally represented on the right foot, hand and ear.

The toes represent anything located in or on the head, like the teeth, mouth, nose, brain, eyes and ears etc, The ball of the foot represents the chest and breast area, including the lungs, and heart, the top half of the arch of the foot represents all the internal organs of digestion eg: the stomach, liver, gall bladder, spleen, pancreas et. The lower half of the arch represents the intestines and bladder, and the heel represents the pelvic and reproductive region.
The spine is represented on the inside of the foot running down from the top of the big toe to the heel, while the shoulders are represented under the little toes, and the hip / knee region is represented on the outside of the foot in the little dip just below the ankle bone – known as the cuboid notch.

A reflexologist will usually feel any imbalance in an organ or area of the body as little ‘crystals’ under the skin, while the client may feel mild discomfort as the area is being worked on. The aim of a practitioner is to break down this congestion using the various finger and thumb techniques and allow the body to come back into balance.
Reflexologists do not diagnose, prescribe or treat specific conditions, instead they work holistically, which means they take into account the mental, emotional and physical needs of a client and work ALL the systems and areas of the foot every time. This allows the body to respond naturally and take from the work whatever it needs.