Pressure on areas of the feet may heal other body parts.
Health & Harmony Calendar
By Paula Detwiller
Can applying pressure to the soles of the feet create a healing response in our internal organs?
That’s the theory behind reflexology, a type of therapy based on the belief that there are reflex areas in the feet that correspond to all the organs, glands and parts of the body.
Practitioners knead, press or roll those reflex areas to help provide relief from a number of conditions, from headaches to infertility.
One of reflexology’s leading proponents is Laura Norman, a Long Island native who winters in coastal Delray Beach. She literally wrote the book — Feet First, a Guide to Foot Reflexology, published in 1988 by Simon and Schuster — and has devoted 40 years of her life to the practice.
“What’s interesting about reflexology is that everything is connected,” Norman says. “If someone has asthma, I work the chest area of the foot. But it’s more than that, because asthma is triggered by stress and tension, so you work the whole nervous system to help them relax. Also, working the adrenal gland area helps. We produce our own cortisol — our own steroids — and so if you stimulate the adrenal gland zone, it’s going to help reduce the inflammation, so they can breathe more easily.”
While Norman insists reflexology is both an art and a science, mainstream medicine would call it fuzzy science, at best. A 2009 review published in the Medical Journal of Australia — based on randomized, controlled studies — concluded that “the best evidence to date does not demonstrate convincingly that reflexology is an effective treatment for any medical condition.”
But that doesn’t stop people from believing in it.
Shelly Himmelrich of Gulf Stream says she has personally gotten “amazing results” from reflexology. “After a session with Laura, my right knee, which is stiffer and not as strong as the other one, feels good — better range of motion, less pain. I always tell her, ‘You fixed my knee’ and she says, ‘I simply allowed your body to heal itself, through your feet.’ ”
Diana Stone, a Delray Beach mother of six, says reflexology helped her little girl overcome bouts of painful constipation.
“Laura taught me to apply pressure to the arch of my daughter’s foot, which corresponds to the digestive system,” Stone says. “After that, she was able to go to the bathroom with ease.”
The first time Stone had her own reflexology session with Norman, it took a spiritual turn.
“I felt a profound relaxation. I heard music — a harp playing in my head — and I saw a purple light. It was a feeling of complete calm and gratitude.”
Reflexology techniques can also be done on three other places believed to have reflex zones: the palms, the face and the ears.
When Norman offered to give me the full treatment at the conclusion of our interview, I was curious to see what I might experience.
I came away relaxed and energized at the same time, a unique feeling for me. I didn’t detect any sensations in my internal organs during the session, but it was by far the best foot massage I’d ever had.
To Norman, that wasn’t really a compliment. “Reflexology is so much more than a foot massage,” she told me, and proceeded to explain the reflex theory again.
Here’s my takeaway: To the extent that our physical health can be influenced by our beliefs, reflexology appears to be a holistic therapy that can’t hurt — and might just help.
For information about local reflexology treatments and classes, see lauranorman reflexology.com.
Paula Detwiller is a freelance writer and lifelong fitness junkie. Find her at www.pdwrites.com.
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