A 2,300 B.C wall painting in the tomb of Ankmahor, known as the physicians’ tomb, shows a series practitioners giving patients reflexology treatments. In addition, there is evidence that reflexology was known to some early African tribes and the American Indians.
Dr William Fitzgerald and American ENT (ear nose and throat) consultant rediscovered it in the early 1920s. He found that by applying pressure to reflex points on the feet, he could anaesthetize a patient’s ear and this enabled him to perform minor ear operations. Eunice Ingham, a nurse, publicised much of Dr Fitzgerald’s research by treating patients, lecturing and training practitioners including Dorean Bayley who introduced the therapy into England in the early 1960s.
