Reflexology Massage: When Feet Are Like a Map

1. What Is It Actually?

In a reflexology massage someone presses with their thumbs on your feet. Not just anywhere, but at very specific points. These points are called reflex zones. The idea behind it: Each zone on the foot is supposed to belong to a part of the body, just like the buttons on a remote control belong to different programmes. If you press a button, something is supposed to change elsewhere.

There are such zones on the hands and on the ears as well. Some people imagine it like a map on which the whole body is drawn small on the sole of the foot. Whether this map is really correct is open. Researchers have not been able to confirm it with certainty so far. So this is more a hypothesis than a proven fact.

Something else can be described well: The massage does many people good. They become calm, relax, and some even fall asleep. Whether this is due to the zones or simply because someone takes time and touches the feet, researchers do not yet know exactly. Both are possible.

You lie comfortably, the socks come off. The pressure is firm but not rough. If it becomes too strong, you simply say so.

2. How Is It Done?

In a practice or hospital you sit on a couch or in a comfortable chair. You take off your shoes and socks. The person performing the massage takes your foot in both hands and palpates it. Then she presses with the thumb, sometimes also with the knuckles, point by point. She moves slowly over the sole, over the sides and over the toes. Then the other foot follows.

On the hands and on the ears it works similarly. There the surfaces are smaller, so fingertips are used.

It is important that you are allowed to speak up. If a point tickles, if the pressure is too firm or if you want a break, you say so. Good practitioners ask in between. Many people become tired and calm during the session. Some notice hardly anything, and that is also fine.

3. What Do Researchers Investigate?

There are many studies on this topic: 397 in total, 306 of them on humans, 186 with a comparison group. A comparison group means: One part of the people receives the treatment, another part receives something else or only quiet time. This makes it possible to see whether the massage really makes the difference. That so many people took part is a lot of work, and each individual study helps to sharpen the picture.

For example, it was tested whether a treatment combining acupuncture and reflexology can be well planned and carried out in people with sleep problems. Other studies looked at women with breast cancer and how they feel afterwards, at pain during childbirth where various massage techniques were examined together, and at people with a joint disease where a massage with fragrant oils and a reflexology massage were tested together. With such combinations it is not possible to say which part helped.

One question in particular remains open: Do the zones themselves have an effect? Or does the calm touching and the attention help? This would be clarified by a study in which one group is pressed at the zones and the other at arbitrary points.

4. An Experiment to Think About

You can run this trial in your head. Imagine you want to know whether pressing the foot zones makes you tired. You take twenty children and divide them into two groups. One group receives a real reflexology massage at the zones. The other group receives gentle touches on the feet for just as long, but at points that are not supposed to belong to any zone.

Afterwards you ask everyone how tired they feel. If both groups are equally tired, perhaps the zone did not have an effect, but the touch did. If only the first group is tired, this speaks for the zones.

Think about it: Why is such a trial difficult? Perhaps the children notice which group they are in. And tiredness cannot be measured as precisely as the length of a table.

For adults and professionals: the detailed page on reflexology.