American Massage Therapy Association^®

Ancient World
It appears from surviving carvings, statues, art and scanty historical records that forms of healing systems using specific points on the body were practiced simultaneously across different cultures in roughly the same time periods. The oldest documented are ancient practices in Egypt and India. From there it spread to Tibet, China and Japan.

Traditional medicine in Tibet and China has been practiced for approximately 4,000 years. The systems then and today include herbal medicines, acupuncture, acupressure and moxibustion applied to the vital energy points. Tibetans improved their medical system by incorporating practices from Persia, India, China and Greece. The first medical textbook, The Yellow Emperors Book of Internal Medicine, appeared in the middle of the 7th century and records the Chinese practice. From China, energy point therapy spread to Japan where it became integrated into acupuncture, acupressure, moxibustion, and Japanese acupressure massage (shiatsu).

European Zone Therapy
The earliest practitioners of energy point therapy were probably travelers from the Eastmigrating tribes, scholars and traders. Zone therapy, a form of reflex therapy, was practiced in Europe by everyday people. Pressure applied to a zone produces a reflexive action in the same zone in another part of the body. This form of self-administered pressure therapy was well known and practiced for stress and pain relief.

Earliest known writings on zone therapy were published in the late 1500s. In 1771 the concept of reflexive action and the term reflex were introduced. By the end of the century, researchers from different fields of studyincluding anatomy, neurology, pathological, physiology, psychology and even metaphysicsexplored this new field. The Neurological Society of London, founded in 1885, provided a forum in which scientifically based neurological studies that included reflex action were conducted, presented, published and shared throughout Europe and the United States. This catapulted the practice of reflex therapy from folk medicine to the realm of science.

American Reflexology
American surgeon William Fitzgerald is credited with introducing zone therapy to the American medical profession and laypersons in 1913. Interest in Fitzgeralds work led Joe Selby Riley, MD, MS, DO, ND, to incorporate zone therapy into his practice. Eunice Ingham worked for Riley as a physical therapist and massage therapist.

The story goes that under Rileys encouragement, Ingham continued independent research and began teaching classes in reflexology to laypersons throughout the country in the 1940s. This approach evolved into the Ingham Method of Reflexology, which is still taught throughout the United States and the world under the auspices of Dwight Byers, president of the International Institute of Reflexology, nephew and protg to Ingham.

Mildred Carter extended zone therapy in four fundamental ways: 1) by identifying reflex points located throughout the entire body with a focus on the reflexes in the hands and feet; 2) through retained devices; 3) by describing energy flow throughout the body; 4) by valuing the importance of nutrition and supporting therapies.

Ingham and Carter each published, taught and spoke extensively on reflexology for almost four decades. Pioneers in the self-help health movement, each independently attributed to awareness, growth and development of reflex therapy in the United States.

Timeline of Reflexology

sources

Byers DC. Better Health with Foot Reflexology. St Petersburg, Florida: Ingham Publishing, 2001.

Gaer J. How the Great Religions Began. New York: New American Library, 1956.

Issel C. Reflexology: Art, Science, and History. Sacramento, California: New Frontier Publishing, 1993.

Khangkar D. Tibetan Medicine: The Buddhist Way of Healing. India: New Delhi: Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. and Lustre Press Pvt. Ltd., 1998.

Serizama K. Tsubo: Vital Points for Oriental Therapy. New York: Japan Publications, Inc., 1991.

Stainbrook, Roger. Telephone interview. Summer 2004. www.dallaspoweryoga.com

Tomio, Shifu Nagaboshi. The Bodhisattva Warriors. York Beach, Manie: Samuel Weiser, 1994.