Reflexotherapy of the Feet (RTF) has proved its worth as a form of long-term, supplementary care for improving the quality of life, easing severe pain, and maintaining interpersonal contact.

Depending on the patient’s regenerative capacity, the basic functions of the intestine, kidneys, respiratory, and cardiovascular systems may be expected to improve.

In patients with impaired sensibilities of various kinds and origins, body awareness can be developed and promoted through conscious, watchful experiencing of the treated areas of the feet.

Many of these patients also suffer from very cold and lifeless feet and are grateful for human touch and an increased body temperature. It is often useful to instruct friends and relatives how to move and massage the patient’s feet. The application of a good skin oil or cream is always found to be particularly beneficial.

In patients suffering from chronic pain, harmonizing the autonomic nervous system by stabilizing grips is of major importance in breaking the spirals of tension, pain, and anxiety which are constantly re-establishing themselves.

Multiple Sclerosis

In patients in the early stages of the disease, we can usually perform an initial assessment which indicates the zones in need of treatment. If the disease is already more advanced, an initial assessment is of little use as impaired sensibilities, paresis (partial paralysis), and the restriction and slowing down of all movement prevent the finding of reliable information.

Practical Advice

• Therapy focuses on the symptoms which have arisen as a result of cerebral and spinal impairment and afflict the patient the most. However, during the first few sessions the feet should be treated in their entirety, not according to specific stimuli, and in combination with ample stabilizing grips in order to obtain a better understanding of the patient’s current response.

• In the acute phase it is preferable to perform stabilizing grips and to avoid strong stimuli. The symptomatic zones of the brain and the spinal column should be treated sensitively using the sedating grip, avoiding the application of excessive pressure.

• Symptomatic relief can be expected in:

• Evacuation of the bladder and intestine: Sometimes spontaneous evacuation occurs immediately after treatment, sometimes the function of these systems improves as a result of a longer course of treatment.

• Within the urinary and the digestive tracts, the sphincters are treated using the sedating grip (neurovegetative balance).

• Spastic paresis: The rules of first-aid treatment are applied in the zones of the partially or completely paralyzed spastic muscle groups, provided they can be treated as zones. As a result of relatively vigorous treatment with the sedating grip, the acute spasm is often increased slightly for a brief period, before entering a phase of distinct relaxation of the muscles and joints which lasts a few hours.

• Difficulties in swallowing: First the sedating grip is applied gently, later the following zones can be gently tonified: ventral and dorsal neck region, above all, in the region of the larynx, as well as the diaphragm and pelvic floor (corresponding to the base of the mouth), gastrointestinal tract, and all sphincter zones, especially the anus. Treat the lateral lymphatics of the neck gently and carefully.

There is often the misconception that ageing is synonymous with being ill. In therapeutic circles, however, we are confronted, almost without exception, with sick elderly people. RTF offers a wide range of possibilities for alleviating such people’s condition:

• A frequent sense of isolation can be alleviated by the remedy of touch alone. Touching the feet, including in the form of neutral massage and footbaths, has a particularly powerful effect on the whole person and constitutes a kind of “care for one’s roots.” After all, there is an intrinsic “memory” in everyone’s feet documenting how they have literally carried the whole person through their life. For these reasons too, we have been training geriatric nurses for a long time.

• As basic metabolic functions (both anabolic and catabolic) are naturally slower in the elderly, they can be supported by gently tonifying the zones of the brain, heart, respiration, digestion, kidneys, skin, immune and lymphatic systems.

• Dehydration in the elderly, unfortunately often not sufficiently recognized, cannot be counteracted by RTF alone. First and foremost, fluid intake should be increased in this case.

Parkinson’s Disease

• In incomplete paraplegics, above all, the disturbing attendant symptoms of a lack of control of bladder and intestinal function must be treated by means of gentle tonifying of these groups of organs. Again and again during RTF, patients hear bowel sounds and feel peristaltic movements which may also result in the spontaneous evacuation of the bowels. Albeit with individually differing results, deliberate control of the evacuation of the bowels can be supported. Above all, chronic recurrent ascending urinary tract infections decline.

Treating the chronically sick can be very exhausting, partly due to the physical strain, partly because of the absorption of subtle irritations and stresses, particularly because the fate of this person also touches and affects us emotionally.

We should therefore take care of ourselves and be sure to find enough time for recovery and relaxation. Washing our hands under running water, remaining adequately hydrated, and airing the room help to neutralize our own energy field.