Nearly all manual forms of therapy first arose from practical observations and were only later written down. However, the practical observations which we make from findings on our patients’ feet are always reliable and more significant than any reference book.

Furthermore, “fixed” treatment processes are a contradiction in terms because therapy as a dynamic process is literally animated and moving. I should therefore like to point out repeatedly the limits of determining certain points in writing and advise training the sensitivity of one’s own hands in order to become independent of fixed averages through personal tactile experience.

Completely natural differentiations can already be found within the physiological range of the organ zones.

Examples

• The zone of the uterus expands in women as a pregnancy progresses.

• The zone of the stomach is smaller after fasting for 10 days than after a lavish meal.

• The zone of the bladder changes in tone and size depending on its content.

• Just as the organs change their position in the body according to whether the patient is lying down or standing, the sites of the zones likewise vary depending on whether the patient is sitting or lying down during treatment, for example, in the case of the stomach and spleen.

Besides natural differentiations when treating patients, we almost always have to deal with pathological changes. Here too the deviations from the norm in situ correlate with the deviations in site or shape of the organs in the body.

Examples

• In patients with floating kidneys both the regular kidney zone and the zone which corresponds to the current pathological site of the kidney indicate abnormalities, both sites being an expression of abnormal conditions.

• In patients with gastroptosis (sagging stomach), a relatively common complaint, the zone of the stomach may often extend into the region of the small intestine, according to the altered site of the stomach as a result of ptosis (sagging).

• In women with a uterine or bladder prolapse, the zones of the pelvis in the medial calcaneus are displaced in a proximal direction.

• Conversely, in people whose feet reveal deformations which have been inherited or acquired as a result of trauma, the sites of the zones change according to the anatomical and pathological displacement of the foot’s bone and tissue structure. I cannot be certain whether anomalies of the feet also bring about deviations in the site of the organs in the body but they may trigger functional disorders in the corresponding organs.

Beginners will learn to find the zones better if they first gather experience in patients with precise symptoms, for example, toothache, acute joint problems, lumbar complaints, or menstrual pain.

The clear pathological condition of such zones can be confirmed easily and objectively.

There are a number of internal and external causes of strain or pain in the foot region. Whether and when lasting abnormal zones develop as a result depends upon the duration and intensity of the stimulus and the vitality of the person concerned. However, we may assume that there are reciprocal effects between disorders of the foot and their related zones in situ, even if they do not always display perceptible symptoms.

Examples

• Excessive strain caused by extreme hiking or walking, exaggerated practice of a particular sport

• Trauma: injuries, cuts, treading on sharp objects, fractures, sprains

• Hereditary conditions: weak connective tissue, flat feet, fallen arches, spread foot, pes valgus or pes cavus

• Circulatory disorders: paresis, varicose veins, venous ulcers, smoker’s leg

• Rheumatism and gout in the whole organism, which can be reflected in the feet as “gouty toes”