Points on the feet link to organs and can assist in healing and balancing
the body.

People often think that reflexology is simply a gentle foot massage, when it fact, it’s not a foot massage at all. Reflexology is a therapeutic approach used to complement treatments for illnesses and to relieve tension.

It focuses on pressure points in your feet, hands and ears that are connected to other parts of your body. Applying pressure to target areas can help treat specific organs or specific health issues. For example, if you suffer migraines, the pressure points are in your toes. Your reflexologist would begin a treatment pattern that ultimately covers your entire foot and provides a treatment for your whole body.

Your foot serves as a guide map

Reflexology practitioners include chiropractors, physical therapists and massage therapists. They are guided by foot charts that map out the links of specific areas of your foot’s sole to a specific organ. For example, the pads of your four smaller toes are linked to your sinuses; a sliver of your interior heel is linked to your bladder; the ball of your foot shares space with links to your heart and lungs.

The treatments have been used for thousands of years and are known to help those with a broad range of health concerns such as anxiety, asthma, and cardiovascular disease. The reflexologist works to bring your body into balance by applying pressure to stimulate the nervous system. The nervous system does the real work of balancing your body. The reflexologist gives your nervous system the necessary nudge.

Bringing your body into balance

Reflexology is about more than simply easing tightness in a target area of your body or releasing pain. It’s about bringing your body into balance. Treatments standardly begin at your fingers, toes, or ears and expand from there.

Before your session, it’s helpful to discuss a specific condition with your reflexologist which helps him or her make a direct approach to the area of your feet or hands that are linked to your specific problem. Your reflexologist will also be able to return to that area to confirm the problem has been resolved.

In the end, you may experience a lightness or surge of energy. This further supports the theory that reflexology is a tool which allows the body to nurture and repair itself. And that happens only after your body is free of tension.

Footloose Reflexology has two locations in Rancho Mirage (760) 770.6700 and La Quinta (760) 863.0900.

Sources: 1) http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/consumer-health/expert-answers/what-is-reflexology/faq-20058139; 2) http://www.mayoclinic.org/expert-biographies/brent-a-bauer-m-d/bio-20025121; 3) http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/reflexology/what-can-i-expect-first-reflexology-visit