History of Reflexology

The origin of reflexology dates back to ancient Egypt. Below is a wall painting dated about 2330 B.C. That was discovered in the Egyptian tomb of a physician named Ankhmahor.
 

A number of dedicated practitioners are responsible for the therapy it has become today. Some of these practitioners include Dr William Fitzgerald, Dr Joe Shelby Riley, Eunice Ingham and Sir Charles Sherrington.

William Fitzgerald developed "Zone therapy". He discovered that the application of pressure on various zones of the body would have an anaesthetic effect upon another part of the body and in many cases it also relieved the underlying cause of the pain. He therefore realised that the body was divided into 10 longitudinal sections which he called longitudinal zones.

Dr Joe Shelby Riley further developed the work of William Fitzgerald and trained Eunice Ingham and helped to develop Reflexology charts as we know them today. Eunice Ingham the "mother of reflexology", formulated the transverse zones of the foot, creating and publishing reflexology charts.

Sir Charles Sherrington (1861-1952) in his work proved that the whole nervous system and body adjusts to a stimulus when it is applied to any part of the body, which later went on to win him the Nobel Prize. "The integrative Action of the Nervous System".