Therapeutic Reflexologists have a fascination about feet, but ever so often a patient would enquire about a different form of foot fascination like a foot phobia or a foot fetish; this post attempts to look at these controversial matters from a therapeutic reflexologist’s viewpoint.
Foot Phobia (Podophobia)
I spoke to a doctor a while ago and she told me that she does not like feet at all and even in her professional capacity she is unable to work with any patient’s feet and would rather refer the patient to a colleague. She also mentioned that she dislikes feet so much that she does not even like looking at or touching her own feet.
This is what is called a fear of feet or the professional description is Podophobia.
This fear is real and can be so severe that a person experiencing it does not even want to think of feet or see feet or discuss anything relating to feet. With this in mind, it is a very relevant question that the therapeutic reflexologist is sometimes asked about, especially if patients want to recommend reflexology to a friend or family member that has a Podophobia.
Dealing with a phobia is often the terrain of the counsellor, the psychologist or the psychiatrist, but what often forms part of the treatment is to desensitise a person to the fear. This means that the person should sometimes be encouraged to purposefully overcome the fear by putting them in the very situation they are fearing. One such way is to recommend to the person with the Podophobia to visit a therapeutic reflexologist to introduce the to the professional world of feet.
It is of the utmost importance that a therapeutic reflexologist that is fully qualified and registered with the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) is approach in instances where a person with Podophobia is considering a reflexology treatment. The potential patient should not be scared off and should definitely not feel forced to have something done that they would absolutely hate. A registered therapeutic reflexologist will be able to discuss and introduce the person to therapeutic reflexology within his or her boundaries without making them feel uncomfortable or nearing a panic attack.
Feet are just another body part, just like your hands or arms or face and a person with a Podophobia should realise this, but this realisation is not always easy and often has to be done in combination with professional counselling. The therapeutic reflexologist is part of a multi-disciplinary team and can therefore work very well alongside other professionals to make this a reality for a person.
Based on personal experience in this regard, I have worked with a few patients that came for therapeutic reflexology even though they had a form of Podophobia. This ranged from a person that fears her feet being touched due to being ticklish, but during a professional therapeutic reflexology session realising that the treatment is not ticklish at all. This ranged to working with a lady that hated thinking about feet or talking about feet to totally refusing anyone touching her feet (including herself); she eventually came for regular therapeutic reflexology sessions and enjoyed the professional touch to her feet, but outside the therapy room refused that anyone (including her spouse) touching her feet.
Therapeutic reflexology is an excellent healthcare modality where the patient’s feet is the therapeutic domain. Many patients are hesitant in receiving therapeutic reflexology for the first time, but once they realise the benefits and experience the accompanying relaxation, they become more open to receive it on a regular basis, even if they still do not allow anyone else than the registered therapeutic reflexologist to touch their feet. This has always been a huge privilege to me; understanding that a patient entrusts you with their feet in order to receive the highest quality of therapeutic reflexology possible.
Foot Fetish
Moving from Podophobia to an even more controversial subject; that of a foot fetish.
It is not strange for the therapeutic reflexologist to hear remarks from patients like: So you have to work with people’s feet all day? How do you do that? Or even a very straight forward remark like: Reflexologists are nothing other than therapists with a foot fetish.
Let’s have a look at exactly what a foot fetish is.
According to the *DSM-5 (2013:701) a fetish is a condition where sexual connotations are association with specific objects or body parts. One such example is a foot fetish where people associate sexual connotations or even sexual arousal with feet. Fetishism can turn into such a disorder that people may become impotent and totally unable to be sexually aroused without the presence of such object they are fantasising about or are longing for.
It is not the purpose of this post to provide psychological solutions for these conditions and often professional counselling is needed to address it, but the aim of this post is to make people aware of the reality of what many are experiencing and thinking about.
Here we see two totally opposite spheres of feet; on the one hand is a Podophobia where people fear feet to the point of avoiding feet totally to the other side where a foot fetish refers to the seeking out of feet in order for sexual arousal purposes. As I said, today is a very controversial blog post, but something that needs addressing especially since people are thinking about things like this (especially after visiting the internet and finding all kinds of topics), but only a few have the courage to actually ask directly about it.
I spoke to a podiatrist recently who made the comment that anyone with a foot fetish should spend one day with him in his consulting room to see the types of feet he has to work with and they will immediately be cured of their foot fetish. Just was said jokingly, but there is some truth in it. Usually a person has a fetish due to an imaginary picture of fantasy and when compared with reality the fetish is reduced.
Anyone considering to visit a registered therapeutic reflexologist can be assured that they are seeing a professional therapist and not a con artist trying to see people’s feet. The therapeutic reflexologist is highly qualified and formally registered with the AHPCSA which means they are formally regulated by strict ethical and legal guidelines.
The therapeutic reflexologist sees your feet as a therapeutic domain, just like your General Practitioner (GP) sees your body as their diagnostic domain, just like the Dentist sees your teeth as their professional body part to work with, just like your Dermatologist sees your skin as the body’s biggest organ to treat, just like the Urologist sees male parts and the Gynaecologist sees female parts of the body as a medical domain to examine and treat. The Podiatrist also works with feet, but focuses more on the abnormalities and the Orthopaedic Surgeon also works with feet, but usually with things like broken bones and so forth. Putting this in perspective should bring us back to reality.
Your feet are just another body part, just like your hands or face or arms or abdomen. If you go to any healthcare professional, they see your body from a medical perspective and if you go to a specialist, the doctor sees the specific body part or body system they specialise in as a medical part of your body and definitely not as a fetish. Similarly, the therapeutic reflexologist is a registered healthcare professional seeing your feet as the therapeutic domain in which their expertise rests; it is nothing relating to a fetish.
So rest assured, just like your GP or Surgeon or Gynaecologist, your Therapeutic Reflexologist is a highly regulated healthcare professional that works with a specific body part with the purpose of treating you within their scope of practice. There is nothing sinister in the therapeutic reflexologist working with your feet, just like there is nothing sinister in the medical specialist working with your heart or nose or ears or private parts if that is the area of their expertise. Neither the Therapeutic Reflexologist nor the medical specialist entered their careers because they had a fetish for a specific body part.
Foot Fascination of the Therapeutic Reflexologist
The Therapeutic Reflexologist does not have a foot phobia and is therefore able to work with your feet professionally and the Therapeutic Reflexologist also does not have a foot fetish and sees your feet as their therapeutic domain and nothing sinister.
The Therapeutic Reflexologist works mainly with your feet, but also with other body parts if they are trained to do so like your hands, ears, face and body like the arms and the legs. Your feet are mainly used by the therapeutic reflexologist for numerous reasons that were dealt with in a previous blog post. This being said, the therapeutic reflexologist has a professional foot fascination, nothing sinister about it, but understands how wonderful the human foot has been created to carry the entire weight of the body through various terrains and then by professional stimulation of certain reflex points on the feet, it is possible to help the body to heal itself from the inside out. That is fascinating and a professional fascination for feet.
If you have a foot phobia or a foot fetish, please do not let that discourage you from actually seeking the services of a Therapeutic Reflexologist. You will also benefit from Therapeutic Reflexology and the Therapeutic Reflexologist is a professional healthcare professional that will not make you feel uncomfortable, but will work with you professionally within the boundaries of your comfort.
This is World Reflexology Week so do not hesitate to contact your Therapeutic Reflexologist for a therapy session right away; reduce your stress with professional therapeutic reflexology while your mind is at ease that your therapist does not have a foot fetish or podophobia.
Reference:
* (DSM-5) American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th Edition. Washington DC, WA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
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Christo A. Scheepers: Therapeutic Reflexologist
Dip.T.R.(Cum Laude) [IARAMT]
AHPCSA: A11945
Pr. No.: 1080000737453
Tel. 072-800 7243