CONCEPT OF REFLEXOLOGY
Reflexology is generally included in the field of Acupressure, the concept of acupressure is expressed in the Chinese national vocational skills training document as follows:
Acupressure method is the practical application of acupressure in health care.
Acupressure is a natural therapy or natural health care method based on modern reflex theory, using massage techniques or other methods to stimulate areas (points, acupoints, reflex areas) in the meridians, nervous system or three-dimensional elements on the surface of the human body to regulate the internal physiology of the human body.
Combined with the understanding through research and experience of acupressure over a long period of time, the above concepts are expressed in common language as follows:
The human body is a whole, the nerves and meridians are like a large dense network that spreads throughout the body and connects the internal organs and external networks.
In particular, there are areas such as the Ear, back and other parts that have corresponding contact areas and both the location and surface are called Reflex areas.
Diagnosis and treatment of health care, aesthetics, and therapy by stimulating the Reflex area is called acupressure.
Reflex therapy is a method that is a summary of traditional acupressure methods and methods of affecting the nervous system in modern medicine, but it is not theoretically long or difficult to understand, but is described with a concise, easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply technique with high efficiency. It can be suitable for all classes of people from workers to doctors and professors.
It is an indispensable handbook for those who are passionate about the field of natural health care without drugs.
ORIGIN OF ACUPRESSURE REFLEX THERAPY
Reflex therapy is a part of the acupressure technique that has a long history of development in countries with early developed civilizations such as China, Egypt and its name has also constantly developed to keep up with the times and develop.
Since ancient times, when people often fell, were injured, or were attacked during production and life, consciously or unconsciously, they used their hands to massage the injured area or other parts to relieve pain, so the most primitive and simple massage therapy was born.
In the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic, the treatment principle has long been recorded as “disease in the upper body, disease in the lower body”. The “Historical Records” records the legendary story of a famous doctor in ancient times. He was called the famous doctor who touched the soles of the feet, because he was a doctor who specialized in touching the insteps of the feet to treat diseases. At that time, it was believed that he “could cure diseases without using decoctions”, but could “treat a series of diseases”, which showed his outstanding medical skills. Later, he was considered the initiator of foot health care.
Hua Tuo, a famous physician in the Han Dynasty, inherited the achievements of his predecessors, researched and developed the existing method of examining the toes, and developed it into the method of heart surgery of the feet. After the Tang Dynasty, this method was successively introduced to the Western regions and Japan, and gradually developed into the therapy of True Mind and Shiatsu.
At that time, there were also many people studying foot massage, but due to the long-standing constraints of feudal consciousness such as “male superiority over female”, “Men and women should not touch each other”, foot massage has since disappeared in China.
However, the miraculous effects of hand and foot massage have increasingly attracted the attention and love of Westerners. In 1917, American otolaryngologist William After studying and arranging it with modern medical methods, believed that the theoretical basis is based on nerve reflexes, put forward the theory of human body area reflexes and drew a map of body area reflexes, the concept has great influence globally. Scholars from the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and other countries have conducted research and published corresponding works.
In 1938, Mrs. Inham published the book “Foot Talk”, which vividly explained that the reaction of a certain part of the foot is the “cry” of the related organs, and the diagnosis of the disease by the presence or absence of pain. is called “Inham style therapy”.
German doctor Marcado published “The Law of Foot Health Massage”.
Swiss nun Heti Massaforant, who worked in the Chinese mission after returning from China, published “Pathological Massage” and, together with her husband Er, established a large medical center, helping thousands of people recover their health with this method.
In 1980, Swiss priest Wu Ruoshi, who was a missionary in Taiwan, suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis for many years and sought a cure. He translated “Pathological Massage Method” from German into Chinese, cooperated with the famous doctor Wu Changxin to develop the pedal exercise, and held seminars to teach people, and was known to the world as the “father of contemporary foot health care”.
In January 1991, the Ministry of Health of China fully affirmed in approving the establishment of the “China Foot Reflex Zone Health Law Research Association”: “Foot Reflex Zone Health Law is a simple, effective, and side-effect-free treatment method.
In July of the same year, the China Foot Reflex Zone Health Law Research Association was registered with the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1973, Zhang Lingqing, a professor at Shandong University, applied information theory to medicine and proposed the metacarpal diagnosis and treatment method for the corresponding area, and published the “Biological Law”, providing in-depth knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment methods of the hands, feet, and ears that have been explored and applied. From here a new explanation emerged: each relatively independent part of the human body
contains all the information of the body, which is called the “three-dimensional embryo”. Biotechnology proves added that every cell in animals is a three-dimensional embryo, and so is human.
This “three-dimensional embryo theory” has gradually been accepted by everyone, and the foot reflexology health care method has gradually been extended from the feet to the calves, ears, hands, back and other parts.
This subject has now developed into a separate discipline, which is taught and trained on a large scale, called “acupressure”; those who specialize in acupressure are called “acupressure practitioners”.
In 1999, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Ministry of Health of China approved the recognition of TCM Acupressure as a new type of profession in the field of health care and protection.
