NO, you are not going to have a heart attack!

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"While studying my hand I noticed some tenderness in the heart and arteries area." So started a post to Yahoo Answers. The post ended with the writer being scared that what had been found using a hand chart could be a heart attack waiting to happen.

I get these queries all the time. I also try to answer them when I see them on the Internet. Charts do have their drawbacks. They aren't diagnostic tools.

Here is my answer to the poor person with the hand chart from Yahoo Answers.

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Don't panic. Tenderness is not always a sign there is something wrong. It is simply a stress cue. That means there is stress in an area. And quite simply it could simply be stress in that part of your hand. Whether it reflects stress in another part of the body takes a skilled reflexologist.

Here is why it is necessary to panic. Reflexology hasn't been developed as a diagnostic tool. And self diagnosis is one of the worst things to do. I get letters like this all the time.

Second when you look at a reflexology chart it isn't simply the heart it is also the surrounding area. The heart overlaps with a number areas like the chest, lungs, and upper back.

The stress cue may be reflecting a number of these areas. I have had people strain a muscle in their back and it is reflected in a stress cue in the hand.

Is this a heart problem? No but that is why I tell people not to go to a reflexologist for a medical diagnosis.

Now if you are looking to find where stress lies in the body we are not bad at that. But that takes a series of questions as well.

Third the simple solution that is mostly for your piece of mind is to get a conventional medical exam. Nothing wrong with that. We all need regular monitoring and not because of soreness in our hands.

Believe me in my 32 years of reflexology practice I have not run across someone who has used a chart on their own and found a serious disorder.

One final note there are several types of pain. Acute problems usually are extremely sensitive to the touch not just sore.

Hope this helps.

Kevin Kunz