Reflexology Path for Kids: Do-It-Themselves Fun

Are your kids bored? It’s a common complaint these days. How about some entertainment that’s healthy for them?

A build-it-themselves reflexology path offers such an opportunity. What’s a reflexology path? Imagine a sidewalk with section of varying surfaces arranged to give sensory stimulation to the feet. 

For growing children sensory stimulation of the foot encourages development both physically and mentally. Children’s reflexology paths are found in parks in Korea and schoolchildren in Germany make their won paths by gathering sticks, stones and other elements and arranging them in low-walled boxes.

We once introduced a tribe of three brothers to some simple materials to build their own path and watched them go to work. The fun was in arranging and then re-arranging the segments of the path and then experiencing the path underfoot. 

The do-it-yourself path can be made in minutes outdoors with materials gathered around the garden or easily available materials from a big box store. Station one material after another to form parts of the path, shaped like a sidewalk segment or go free form. Paths can be made for the day, casually laid on the lawn, or a more permanent structure, boxed in wooden outlines.

Safety first. Always consider the surface under the materials of the path. Concrete or asphalt can form a hazardous undersurface with potential for materials to slide or trip. Don’t build your path in an area used commonly as a walkway. 

Some ideas for a casual path:

• Walk the tight rope: Arrange the garden hose on grass so it snakes around the yard.
• River rock: Smooth rocks are the easiest on feet.
• Pebbles
• Sand
• Concrete garden edging

For more tips about using reflexology to keep your kids happy and healthy, see Reflexology for Children and Complete Reflexology for Life.

 

For more information about reflexology paths and photos of reflexology paths around the world, see http://www.reflexology-research.com/?page_id=187

 

https://www.pinterest.com/footc1/reflexology-paths-barefoot-parks/

To see do-it-yourself “foot sensation trails” in Germany, see http://www.barfusspark.info/en/path.html.

For ideas about constructing a reflexology path in your yard, see https://playathometeacher.com/2016/06/25/diy-sensory-path/

Books by Kunz and Kunz

Research Books

Medical Applications of Reflexology: Findings in Research About Post-operative care, Maternity Care and Cancer Care
Evidenced Based Reflexology Research: For Health Professionals and Researchers
Medical applications of Reflexology:: Findings in Research about Cancer Care

Bestselling Books

 Reflexology: Hands-on Treatment for Vitality and Well-being
Complete Reflexology for Life: Your Definitive Photographic Reference to the Best Techniques and Treatments  
 

Intermittent Moving Books

Intermittent Moving: How I Lost My Pants and Mastered My Weight
Un-Sit Your Life: The Reflex "Diet" Solution

Colicy Baby, Fussy Baby, Reflexology Fix

“We could do that.” The baby’s father had just seen a few minutes of reflexology work quiet his little one. Colic had been an on-going problem and the tired parents welcomed my helping hand. It was a social event and I had been asked if I had any suggestions. I reached over and pressed.

Really, it’s so simple. Just gently press the sole of the foot a few times. Your target is the ball of the foot just below the big toe. How often? How much? I don’t have an answer but let experience be your guide. Below are studies that may help.

At least three studies hold promise for success. In one study, for half the babies the number of crying incidents lessened from 90 minus of crying time over 24 hours to less than 30 minutes of crying time. (1)

In another study, reflexology was applied to the infants two days a week for three weeks. “… the mean ICS (Infant Colic Scale) score of the study group was significantly lower than that of control group at the end of the intervention (p < 0.001).

In another study, reflexologists provided three to four sessions over an 8 to 12 day period. A standardized 20-30 minutes of body reflexology work was provided over an hour, creating a relaxed atmosphere and exchange of information with the parents. The session consisted of “gentle pressure treatment of soles and feet, hands, head, face, ears, back, neck and whole stomach area”. Results: “The series of the treatments helped reduce the suffering of all the babies with infant colic. The colic symptoms disappeared on 43% of infants and decreased on the remaining 57%. The parents reported having pleasant experiences with the treatment, regardless whether the colic symptoms disappeared or continued. Parents stated that the treatment reduced the most typical colic symptoms; infants' body tension, colic crying and restless movements, poor sleep quality and irregular bowel movements.”

For more tips about using reflexology to keep your baby happy and healthy, see Reflexology for Children and Complete Reflexology for Life. 

     (1)    Författare: Bennedbaek O, Viktor J, Carlsen KS, Roed H, Vinding H, Lundbye-Christensen S., "Originalets titel: Infants with colic. A heterogeneous group possible to cure? Treatment by pediatric consultation followed by a study of the effect of zone therapy on incurable colic," Publicerad: Ugeskr Laeger 2001 Jul 2;163(27):3773-8).

    (2) Icke S, Genc R. Effect of Reflexology on Infantile Colic. J Altern Complement Med. 2018;24(6):584-588. doi:10.1089/acm.2017.0315

    (3) Hannula, Leena, Puukka, Pauli, Asunmaa, Marjut, Mäkijärvi, Markku, “A pilot study of parents’ experiences of reflexology treatment for infants with colic in Finland,” Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 2019/11/01

Books by Kunz and Kunz

Research Books

Medical Applications of Reflexology: Findings in Research About Post-operative care, Maternity Care and Cancer Care
Evidenced Based Reflexology Research: For Health Professionals and Researchers
Medical applications of Reflexology:: Findings in Research about Cancer Care

Bestselling Books

 Reflexology: Hands-on Treatment for Vitality and Well-being
Complete Reflexology for Life: Your Definitive Photographic Reference to the Best Techniques and Treatments  
 

Intermittent Moving Books

Intermittent Moving: How I Lost My Pants and Mastered My Weight
Un-Sit Your Life: The Reflex "Diet" Solution

Helping Your Family with Reflexology

Helping Your Family with Reflexology
The Reflexology Mom and the Extended Family Tackle Health and Fitness

by Barbara and Kevin Kunz

Drawn to reflexology are mothers concerned about helping a child’s health problem, interested in seeking family wellness outside of the medical model, or living in a rural area with poor accessi- bility to medical care. The reflexology mom, we’ll call her. Her primary motivation is helping a loved one or loved ones. This admirable character extends the care of her family and their needs, taking into her own hands through reflexology their health and well-being.

This time she’s been joined by the many others who make up today’s caring, extended “family” unit: grandparents, life partners, friends, aunts, and the many other loved ones who are part of our lives. As you read through the following, keep in mind that we’re really talking about any one of these individuals who people our lives.

One recent example is a Mom we heard from and got to know over the Internet. She wrote that she had received help for symptoms of her Meniere’s disease by following information in our book Reflexology, Health at your fingertips (Dorling Kindersley). She went on to talk about how, once she felt better, she used reflexology to help her family with their health concerns. Her matter-of- fact letter about getting better so she could help loved ones was a truly touching testament to mom power. When we wrote another book and volunteered to send her one, she declined. While she appreciated the offer, she had totally personalized and customized Her original book to meet the needs of her family. She had marked pages with Post-Its and taken notes in the book’s margins to easily find the information she needed to work with the health concerns of each individual mem- ber of her family.

When we consider the reflexology moms we have known over the years, their stories are truly remarkable. Through their own efforts, they single-handedly made life better for themselves and their families. A low-cost health care system grows on its own as reflexology is applied by mom, the individual most in touch with the health status of her family, as she serves as the health care giver to their children, elderly parents, spouses, and friends. There’s no way to calculate concerns alleviated thanks to women’s use of reflexology. Then there’s also money saved over the years from costs of medication, side effects of medication or time spent sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.

One of our favorite Mom stories was our client Kathy’s. Alarmed at waking at three in the morn- ing unable to breath due to asthma and concerned that she had de-sensitized to a growing list of medications, she sought reflexology help. In addition to applying our reflexology work, we showed her a self-help technique and suggested five minutes of application. She came back to report not only that she could breath more easily after applying the technique but that it only took her three minutes. 

We met Kathy’s daughters as well. On one memorable occasion, Kathy called to cancel her daughter’s appointment. They were, after all, on their way to the emergency room due to her daughter’s extreme abdominal pain. Following standard procedure, no pain medication was administered during the five hours it took to diagnose the need for an appendectomy so Kathy uti- lized a reflexology technique to alleviate her daughter’s extreme pain. We met another daughter when she injured her ankle playing soccer. She was concerned that she would not play the final game of her high school career in a few days time unless the coach was satisfied the ankle had healed sufficiently. We showed her how to apply technique herself. She played in the game. We gradually lost Kathy as a client. She “graduated” and came to control her health concerns and those of her daughters.

And, yes, the mom stories are personal to us. More than thirty years ago, the mother of a college friend helped launch our own interest and careers in reflexology. For this mother, her daughter’s childhood injury, resulting in partial blindness and a “wandering” eye, became a cause to tackle. Through reflexology she succeeded in helping the injured eye track more normally. Then, there was the friend who was enrolled in a reflexology class with Kevin. She wanted to help her daugh- ter who had been injured in a car accident resulting in brain injury and partial paralysis. Told by doctors to institutionalize her daughter in a care facility, the mother instead applied reflexology. Not only did Janey recover sufficiently to live independently but she returned to her teaching career.

Today, research shows how reflexology can help families help each other. The use reflexology by families has been shown to help individuals with cancer. A study by Dr. Nancy Stephenson's study showed a “significant decrease in pain intensity and anxiety” with partner-delivered reflexology applied to patients with advanced cancer.” In a landmark study Barbara Zeller-Dobbs of Switzer- land noted: “Our purpose for using reflexology with these patients was to decrease their pain but we soon realized the beneficial effect of reflexology on the morale of patients and families. Some- thing was being done for them. Patients expressed feelings of being less abandoned and the fami-

lies expressed satisfaction at seeing that something painless existed that could aid their relative.”

Mom-powered and family-powered reflexology is more popular now than ever before. Many are attracted by reflexology’s easy usability and result-getting potential. In addition, it’s a natural therapy that provides a quiet moment of touch and communication with a loved one. Also, many many now believe in reflexology fitness, maintaining wellness in general by applying reflexology for such a goal. For others, disenchantment with medical care or even economic necessity make reflexology an attractive complement to health care for the family.

Resources

Using reflexology is a matter of applying pressure technique to the relevant reflex area of the foot or hand. There are resources detailing such information to match your level of interest. Listed here are resources to launch your use of reflexology providing information about: reflexology charts, how-to technique descriptions and how-to apply a pattern of techniques to address your health interest.

Complete Reflexology for Life by Kunz &Kunz / DK (2007)

The complete book of reflexology use. Color-photo illustrated instructions guide you through foot reflexology and hand reflexology application: basic techniques, how to apply foot reflexology to yourself or another, how to apply hand reflexology to yourself or another, how to use self- help foot reflexology tools, how to use hand reflexology self-help tools. In addition, you’ll find full ses- sion patterns for each. Fully illustrated instructions guide you through work with every stage of life including babies, children, teenagers, senior citizens, men women and pregnant women. Mini- sessions focus your efforts for recovery from injury, easing pain, first aid and relieving stress. Included are directions for soothing tired feet, yours or another’s, as well as working to better foot concerns. Instructions to rejuvenate the hands and work with hand concerns are included as well. Also included are how to address: health concerns, systems of the body (e. g. the digestive sys- tem) and each body part listed on a reflexology chart (e.g stomach).

The Parent’s Guide to Reflexology by Kunz & Kunz

Keep The Parent’s Guide to Reflexology handy to use as a reference, pulling it out when you need some reflexology information for your child. Or, use it as a learning tool for studying reflexology information specific to your child: how-to do reflexology techniques, hints and tips for working with children, benefits of reflexology for children, alphabetical section for applying reflexology specific to common children’s disorders. (160 pages)

Reflexology and Earache in Children

© cenorman . Image from BigStockPhoto.com.

The earache is back—as a topic for suggested guidelines from doctor’s organizations. A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article presents virtually the same information as a WSJ article published in 2004: no more antibiotics for children with earache. The recent article, however, modifies the organizations’ stand to suggest antibiotics to treat ear ache in children under the age of 2 and those who are very ill. At issue is the widespread use of antibiotics and its long term impact on children. Doctors know the statistics: 80% of ear infections in children will go away on their own in a few days contrasted with 90% when antibiotics are used. But what’s a doctor to do when face-to-face with a concerned parent and an ill child? Many times the answer is: prescribe antibiotics.

While no known research explores the topic of reflexology’s impact on earache, anecdotal accounts note the effectiveness of reflexology to help children recover. Reflexology can (possibly) help on many fronts. In addition to aiding concerned parents and ill children, medical costs could be impacted. Earache is, after all, one of the leading reasons for doctors visits for children under the age of 5. Seventy-five percent of children under five will have an ear ache or recurring ear aches.

Newspaper accounts note reflexology’s effectiveness:

• Heather, age five, had been plagued by constant ear infections. Her treatments included: removal of tonsils and adenoids, tube put in her ears, hospitalization and medication. Her mother found relief for her through reflexology treatment. “'It was unbelievable,” Mrs. Ridenour said, “I would not have believed it had I not been there and seen it. I honestly believe that is what cleared it up.”

• Little Alexander had failed a hearing test at the age of 8 months. Tests revealed a blockage of the eustachian tubes and concerns were raised about problems that could result in speech development. After three weeks of work by a reflexologist, Alexander’s cold had not returned and he would turn his head at the sound of a whisper.

• Alistair faced a second round of adenoid and ear operations due to “glue ear,” the production of too much fluid in the middle ear that can not drain away because the tube that normally drains it away has become blocked, often caused by repeated middle ear infections. After a reflexology session, Alistair said his ears felt better and his parents noticed improvement after his third visit.

Such stories remind us of moms we have known and their ionclusion of reflexology to up-keep their family’s health. One mother has her reflexology book marked for easy convenice to apply techniques tailored to each family member. If you have such a story, write us and share with others.

(Mathews,  Anna Wilde, “When the Best RX is No Rx,” Wall Street Journal,  February, 16, 2010, p. D1 and “Groups to Urge No Antibiotics for Most Earaches in Children,” Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2004, p. D3)

 Resources

Ear Infection Ebook   

Complete Reflexology for Life, 

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com 

http://www.dk.com/reflexology 

Tweet me @twitter.com/footreflexology

Facebook www.facebook.com/kevin.kunz 

Can reflexology help children?

Stories about reflexology and children always seem to bring a smile. Who can help it when imagining this scene: a five year-old on the way to a birthday party insisting that his parents drive back home so he could retrieve HIS golf ball. This self-sufficient young one had learned that he could control his migraine headaches with a reflexology golf ball technique he’d learned at the baby-sitter’s. (The baby-sitter’s friend, a client of ours, had passed on the technique we’d shown him and that he found to be successful for his sinus headaches.) The parents were surprised to learn that their son was having headaches as well as that he was using a golf ball for a purpose.

There’s so much to smile about here but also so much to wonder at with the serendipity of it all. This little boy lived in Dallas, some 650 miles from us. The original client lived in Lubbock, Texas some 200 miles from Dallas. Who knew that a bowl of golf balls and an adult using one for a health purpose could help a child—little mimics that they all are—with a health concern unknown to his parents? (This is not so unusual. Children often don’t know how to express such things.) It’s a reminder to us all that our reflexology activities have many and unknown results.

Looking over other stories and research studies, I am reminded of the role of reflexology in helping both a child, suffering from a health concern, and a parent, suffering from concern about the child’s concern. One study showed that crying time for colicy infants was reduced from 90 minutes a day to 30 minutes with reflexology. Another showed that enuresis (involuntary urination or bed wetting) was lessened and still another that encopresis (fecal incontinence) was helped. Then there are the newspaper reports about chronic ear infections, a very painful experience, are helped with reflexology.

Medicine itself offers scant help for any of these common childhood health concerns.  One can image coping with these scenes without the help of reflexology: loss of sleep, messy situations and problems with seemingly no solution. In addition, frequently it’s not easy to see that a child to be physically uncomfortable or what’s causing it. For these reasons—as well as the sheer pleasure of spending some quality time with a little one—reflexology and children can bring much more than a smile.


Barbara Kunz


Parent's Guide to Reflexology

http://www.reflexology-research.com 

http://www.dk.com/reflexology 

Tweet me @twitter.com/footreflexology

Facebook www.facebook.com/kevin.kunz 

New Markets Reflexologists Ought to Consider

© vtupinamba. Image from BigStockPhoto.com

I was talking to a good friend of mine from college last night. She is high up in a major advertising company. We were talking about the growing markets in reflexology. It was kind of a surprise to me that the "tired feet" market hadn't occurred to my friend. With her sophisticated marketing knowledge the idea that people will come to reflexologists not just for a health concern but also for their tired feet didn't cross her mind. 

It reminded me of one of my clients who was a real success story. She was a music teacher who was having trouble standing because her feet hurt her so much. Her job was in jeopardy.

I both worked on her and taught her some self help techniques. She ended up rolling her feet on those sticks you bang together to make rhythmic music (I forget what they are called). She wrote me a very touching letter about how I had saved her and her job. 

I explained to my friend that people do come to reflexologists for their health concerns. But there are a percentage that come for their tired feet. That started me thinking about other reasons people come to see reflexologists. 

There are people who use reflexology to help them keep fit. In fact, the Foot Reflexology Awareness Association in California worked with the athletes from the Police Olympics in California. 

The Chinese in fact consider reflexology as a form of fitness. They look at reflexology not just for athletes but for young and old to build their strength and stamina. They see it as a way to cut health care costs. 

Here are the markets I see:

People pursing a health concern.

People seeking happy feet.

People looking for stress relief. 

People pursuing fitness in a very core way. And as a preventative technique. 

Employers seeking ways to cut health care costs, cut absenteeism and promote employee satisfaction. 

Boomers looking for ways to improve the quality of life for their parents. 

Hospitals looking to improve patient satisfaction and cut the time for recovery. 

Parents who would like to see their children develop strong minds and healthy bodies. 

Companies who want to keep their highly pressured executives from burning out. 

Creative outfits who want to help their artists.

People who just want to feel good all the time.

What types of new markets can you see for reflexology? 

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com

http://www.dk.com/reflexology

 

NeuroLogica Blog- Reflexology in UK Schools

A Yale neurology professor has attacked our work as bunk. He is picking on the program mentioned on this blog that uses reflexology to help with aggressive students.

The professor carefully parses his words in order to twist our words. Stay tuned for our response.

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com

Struggling council spends £90,000 on child reflexology

© nataq. Image from BigStockPhoto.com


"... Labour-run Lambeth Council in South London is to spend £90,000 next year sending reflexologists into its schools to practise their soothing art'

"The team, from a company known as Bud-Umbrella, will work in 60 primary and 14 secondary schools, with children under 13 deemed to be badly behaved"

Unruly school pupils will be punished with... a foot massage
By RYAN KISIEL
Last updated at 7:46 AM on 03rd November 2008

It is surprising how harsh the response to this program is in the UK papers. It makes it sound like the children misbehave and then get rewarded with a reflexology sessions. I am sure that isn't the case. But it is more sensational for the writer to portray it as some type of reward system.

I wish I had know about reflexology when I was a counselor. Children are not the enemy. Unruly children are often abused both mentally and physically in many families. Punishment of the harshest kind often makes them worse. Why not a little TLC? There is research in this direction that show positive results.

Reflexology sessions shouldn't be a reward for bad behavior but it can be a respite from the stresses of adolescence. The higher their stress level the worse they behave. Lower their stress level and then you may have a chance of reaching them. Hopefully before it is too late.

Kevin Kunz

http://www.reflexology-research.com