Reflexology A Brief History
The origins of reflexology can be traced back to ancient Egypt where a pictogram on the tomb wall of Saqqara can be found of a massage being given to the feet of an ancient Egyptian.
The founders of modern day reflexology are Dr.s William Fitzgerald and Edwin Bowers. William Fitzgerald was an ear, nose and throat surgeon in 1913, who first found that he could block pain to these areas so that he could perform minor operations upon his patients with little or no discomfort. Their work developed the notion of longitudinal zones in the body, 5 on the left and 5 on the right. The zones started in the fingers and toes and went right to the tip of the head. By working upon a zone in the foot or hand, the Dr.s found that they could affect an area in the body that shared the same zone. This was called zone therapy and was the precursor to reflexology.
Eunice Ingham was a physiotherapist who worked with the good doctors and it was she that first mapped the body's organs onto the feet. She found that areas on the feet reflected specific organs on the body and so she was able to map the feet to the body's organs. Eunice is credited as being the first reflexologist.
Eunice was born in 1889 and passed on in 1974 aged 85. She toured America giving health workshops and was joined by her nephew Dwight Byers in 1950 and Eusebia Messenger in 1960. Eunice's contribution to reflexology is threefold. She discovered that the reflexes relate to organs and glands of the body and mapped these to the feet in the anatomical model; she found that alternating pressure has a stimulating effect upon the body; and she bought reflexology to the public and to the non-medical community, the alternative therapists.
Doreen Bayley was and English nurse who worked and studied under Eunice. It was she that bought reflexology to the UK in the early 60's
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