Why does reflexology work?

Man's stride in walking sets him off from other creatureson earth.The elementsof the foot as an educablesensoryorgan provide its ability to func- tion for locomotion. This view suggeststhat the foot contributesto two basicintegrated functions of the body, the stride mechanism and the survival mechanism.The foot is thus a participant in the body's interactionswith both the internal and the external worlds.

Adulthood and civilization join to createa lessenedsensorydemandon the feet and the body as a whole. Civilization has given us shoes to walk in and smooth surfaces to walk on. The foot no longer has practice at traversing rough  terrain. Adulthood encourages routine, a kind of “sameness" of sensory experience.The routine, for example, of going to work and working atthe same time, in the same place, at the same job creates a sameness of sensory information. Wear and tear is the result of repetitive, unintemrupted demands on the body.

It is the role of the foot in walking that provides the reflexologist with the opportunity to, literally, step in and intemrpt stress.The foot is a sensory organ. It specializes in gathering information that makes locomotion possible. By sensing pressure,stretch, and movement, the foot contributes to the overall functioning of the body. The reflexologist, through the application of pressure techniques, interrupts the stress experienced by the foot and the whole body in moving about.

The stimulus of pressureprompts the body to respondin a predictable manner.The application of pressure techniques to particular pans of the foot by the reflexologist creates a stimulus to which the body must respond.The response of the body is predictable within the functions of the nervous system. Reflexology can be defined by the basic body mechanisms whose stress it interrupts. 

Kunz, Barbara and Kevin, The Complete Guide to Foo Reflexology (Third Edition), RRP Press, 2005, pp. 4-5

How Does Reflexology Work? Reflex Conditioning

"reflex;...Esp. Physiol. designating or of an iwoluntary action as asneezeresulting when a stimulus is camied by an afferent (sensory )nerve to a nerve center and the responseis reflectedalong an afferent (motor) nerve to some muscle or gland." Webster's Third World Dictionary, New York, Simon& Schusterp,. 1193.

It is a basic tenet of reflexology that the application of pressure to the feet has an effect on the whole body. Is there a physiological basis for such a belief? There is and it exists within the neryous system. A model for how reflexology works can be constructed from what we presently know about the nervous system.The physiological model presented here is based on the conditioning of reflexes.

The feet are sensor yorgans with a role in one of life's basic functions,locomotion. The ability to move about is crucial to survival, to gathering food and escaping from danger. Pressure sensors in the feet are a part of thebody's reflexive network that makes possible a fight or flight response.In case of danger, the hands reach for a weapon, the feet prepare to fight or flee, and the internal organs provide adrenaline, oxygen, and glucose to fuel the effort. On a more mundane level, this same mechanism propels us through the day, taking us to work and moving us about our activities.

Locomotion is learnedin infancy, but the learning never actually stops. We constantly receive feedback from the environment about where we are and what we are doing. The perceptionof pressureby the foot provides feed- back about what is underfoot. The demandsof varying terrain call for the ability to ford a stream or stroll down a sidewalk. Such demandscreate a needfor a response appropriate to the occasion.

Every day is not a new day for the foot or any other sensoryorgan. Using information gatheredover a lifetime, instructions for sensoryorgans are preprogrammedin anticipation of eventsto come. The responsesto our environment are presetprograms of muscular tension fed forward to appro-priate body parts from the brain. In other words, to continually respond to our changingenvironment,we needto receivefeedbackfrom our sensesand to respondwith "feed forward" directions from our brain. The classicexam- ple of a sensory organ receiving feed forward instructions occurs when a mother hearsher infant cry. A mother can differentiate her own infant's cry- ing from other infants becauseher hearing mechanismis tuned to her baby's cry. Thus specific instructions about that baby's cry are provided or fed for- ward by the brain.

It is this feed back / feed forward loop for sensoryorgansthat makes possible a reflexology influence on the whole body. At the sametime that a sensoryorgan such as the foot is being sent instructions from the brain, the internal organs are also receiving instructions. These instructions are about the levels of oxygen and fuel necessaryto make movement possible. Although many parts of the brain are involved in this process,there is one final, common pathway in the brain stem that sendsinstructions to both the feet and the internal organs.The walking mechanism and the feet are, thus, inextricably linked to the internal organs.

The demandsof walking call for an automatic, unconsciousresponse to the ground underfoot. Changesin terrain call for changeswithin the reflexive responseby the foot and the internal organs that fuel movement. For example, walking up a hill createsdemandson the foot and the internal organs.

Any pressureperceived by the foot is a stimulus to which the entire bodyresponds.Changesthroughoutthenervoussystemresultfrom theper- ceptionofpressureby thefoot.A discussionfollows aboutthephysiology of a pressurereflex and its role in the conditioning of the body.

 

Kunz, Barbara and Kevin, The Complete Guide to Foo Reflexology (Third Edition), RRP Press, 2005, pp. 162-163