No, illness is not a prerequisite to receive therapeutic reflexology treatment sessions. There are various people that may make use of the services offered by therapeutic reflexologists and this blog post will briefly have a look at who will benefit from such treatment.
There are usually three types of people that will benefit from therapeutic reflexology treatment, namely:
- Healthy people;
- People suffering from an illness condition; and
- People who were diagnosed with an illness condition, but who are in remission not experiencing any pressing symptoms.
Healthy People
Healthy people may make use of therapeutic reflexology in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle; therapeutic reflexology is known as an excellent form of preventative medicine.
It is said that 85% and more of all known illness conditions are caused by or at least worsened by stress. To prevent illness conditions from appearing or worsening, it is thus a great idea to keep your stress levels under control.
Easier said than done, you may think, because sometimes we are in constant stressful situations and we have to live through it and it may not be so easy to just turn your back on the stress. The ideal would be to walk away from the stressful situation, but it is not so easy if the cause of your stress are things like your work which you need to earn an income or your spouse or children or home environment or upcoming exams or upcoming court cases and so forth. Many of these stressful situations are out of our control and we cannot remove the stressor from our lives, but we have to live with it.
Those are the most dangerous forms of stress, because you cannot just get rid of it; it is intertwined in your daily life and it is a constant attack on your mind and thoughts and ultimately affects your body negatively as well. That is where stress becomes a problem leading to illness conditions appearing or worsening.
To remain healthy, the use of therapeutic reflexology is seen as one of the most effective forms of preventative healthcare keeping these inevitable stress under control. Healthy people therefore make use of therapeutic reflexology treatment in order to control their stress levels in an attempt to remain healthy in the midst of a constantly stressful environment.
You may wonder how therapeutic reflexology helps with keeping people healthy? Well, when you are in a constant state of stress, your body is on high alert which may lead to increased blood pressure, increased blood glucose levels, increased heart rate and so the list continues. In the short term, this is not a problem and may even be good for your, but the problem comes in when your body remains in such a heightened state of stress for longer periods since that is the time when you may end up with conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks and so forth. Keeping the stress levels under control is therefore of the utmost importance. Therapeutic reflexology has the ability to do just that by helping a person to relax and while relaxation is increased, the stimulation on your feet also assists in the secretion of endorphins in the body which do not only make you feel good, but also provides healing effects not only in reducing stress and improving sleep, but also in improving your outlook on life.
Therapeutic reflexology is used by healthy people in order to remain healthy by keeping constant stress under control.
Healthy people can thus also use therapeutic reflexology and it is not necessary that a person has an illness condition in order to receive treatment. Maintenance treatment is different than treatment for specific conditions as it is a holistic approach of ultimate relaxation. Many people have said that receiving therapeutic reflexology is one of the best forms of stress relief and relaxation they ever experienced.
To maintain health, therapeutic reflexology is excellent when done on a regular basis. Many people schedule an appointment once a week, but depending on their stress levels and finances, others receive a session once per month. It is important to discuss your situation and requirements with your therapeutic reflexologist in order to customise the best possible health maintenance programme for your specific needs.
Most people use an hour session for this purpose, but others prefer a longer session of 90 minutes, some like 120 minute sessions while others want to really relax and spend time on themselves and schedule 4 hour appointments. These longer sessions usually make use of a combination of foot reflexology with hand reflexology, ear reflexology, face reflexology and body reflexology while the shorter sessions usually focus on foot reflexology; obviously depending on the person’s requirements. As these sessions are for health maintenance and stress control, it is very flexible and discussed with the person prior to customising the treatment programme.
That being said, it is important to note that therapeutic reflexology is also available for people who are already ill and experiencing symptoms.
People suffering from an illness condition
Therapeutic reflexology is good for people suffering with an illness condition as well.
When you are experiencing a condition like diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, infertility, fibromyalgia and so many more, you may benefit from receiving regular therapeutic reflexology treatments. It should be made very clear that therapeutic reflexology is not a cure, but a treatment that can assist in overcoming conditions like infertility or help manage chronic conditions like diabetes, fibromyalgia and so forth.
When you have a chronic condition, chances are that you are on chronic medication and under medical treatment. Therapeutic reflexology is not a replacement for this, but it may assist in managing the condition. A good example is a person with diabetes and using insulin. When this person receives regular reflexology that stimulates the pancreas reflexes, it is not uncommon for the medical doctor to adjust the person’s insulin usage to use less insulin due to the positive results of the reflexology treatments.
Another instance may be when a person is suffering from an illness condition and needs to use chronic medication, but the side-effects of the medication is sometimes worse than the actual condition. In instances like this, therapeutic reflexology can play a vital role in assisting the body to get rid of excess toxins and in the process help the person to deal with the side-effects of the chronic medication much better. Therapeutic reflexology is therefore not a replacement of the chronic medication, but a treatment assisting in increasing the quality of life of the person who needs to be on the medication over a long period of time.
People diagnosed with a condition, but not experiencing any symptoms
Sometimes people have been diagnosed with conditions, but due to a good multidisciplinary team assisting the person, the patient may not experience any symptoms. Therapeutic reflexology is ideal for such people to keep them in a remission state by helping the body to relax and be in optimum health so the body can maintain homeostasis (or balance) in the midst of the condition that may be lingering under the surface.
Therapeutic reflexology is one of the best methods of preventative healthcare and therefore you do not have to be ill in order to make use treatments. Anyone will benefit from regular therapeutic reflexology treatments whether you are experiencing an illness or are in remission or are totally healthy and want to maintain a healthy lifestyle and state of wellbeing.
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Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude)[IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243