Related Terms • iridology

Definition:
One of many pseudo-scientific alternative medical practices, reflexology involves examining a person's foot in an attempt to diagnose a person's illnesses. According to reflexologists, every part of a person's body has some corresponding location in the foot, such that problems with the organ will produce corresponding effects in the foot. Moreover, massaging the foot, much like how the back is treated in chiropractic medicine, can cure a person's illnesses.

Reflexology was first introduced to the United States by William H. Fitzgerald, M.D. in 1913. At that time, he called it "zone therapy" or "zonotherapy" because he divided the body into ten bioelectrical zones and thought that our bioelectrical energy all flowed through points in our hands and feet. Eunice D. Ingham later developed reflexology into what we see today, focusing on the feet and largely ignoring the hands.

Practitioners use various things like wire burshes, balls, clamps, clothspins, and more in order to stimulate the pressure points on a person's feet. This, they claim, will cure a multitude of ills, even that it will reverse the aging process and make you young again.

Reflexology closely paralles iridology in form and premises. And, like iridology, there is absolutely no scientific basis for the belief that it has any medicinal value whatsoever. At best, supporters point to anecdotes because no controlled, scientific experiments prove their claims.

Also Known As: none

Alternate Spellings: none

Common Misspellings: none

Related Resources:

What is Alternative Medicine?
There's an awful lot in the news and in society about "alternative medicines" these days. By some estimates, it's an industry doing between $15 and $20 billion annually - and growing! But what is alternative medicine - how does it differ from scientific medicine and why do people use it?

Skepticism & Critical Thinking
This is the main index for issues dealing with skepticism, critical thinking, logic and arguments. The first section is Critical Thinking itself - how to think about claims and arguments you hear, how to critique arguments, and how to formulate your own arguments such that they are more likely to be sound and valid. The second section is about Skeptical Investigations - the practical application of the critical thinking skills covered in the first section. Here you will find critiques of things like astrology, alternative medicine, parapsychology, the New Age and more.