The development of Vertical Reflex Therapy (VRT)
Lynne Booth writes: All reflexologists are aware of the logistical difficulties of treating disabled people, especially those in wheelchairs. Since the early 1990s, I have held a weekly clinic for elderly people with multiple patholgies at the St Monica Trust, Bristol. (www.stmonicatrust.org.uk) Often it is impossible to work the reflexes on the plantar or sole of the foot for long because the client’s leg is at a painful angle. Out of sheer necessity I began to work the top or dorsum of the feet as they rested on the wheelchair foot supports and gradually became aware that wheelchair-bound clients responded well to this form of reflexology, especially for musculo-skeletal conditions. I often used to ask them to press downwards with their feet as I could then penetrate deeper into the reflexes. I then began mapping out new or deeper reflexes on the feet but the concept of VRT was only formalised after the following incident:
A 74- year-old woman was injured in an accident and had very limited mobility as she was too frail to undergo a hip replacement operation due to chronic angina. She told me her right leg and hip were in great pain, so I knelt down and worked the hip, leg, spine and pelvic reflexes for no more than 90 seconds, while she remained standing. Ten minutes later, after I had left, she had an acute pain in her right hip followed by soreness and tingling which lasted approximately 30 minutes. Her hip was then much less painful and by the next day she could move her foot and leg higher than she had done for months. The next day I visited her to find her holding on to her walking frame and rather recklessly lifting and swinging her leg to demonstrate her new-found mobility! I realized at once that the missing link to my research was that the feet had to be fully weight-bearing for the reflexes to become so receptive. Within ten weeks she had regained full mobility.Ten years later, though frail, she was still mobile and flexible despite her consultant’s prognosis that she would be probably be wheelchair-bound in 18 months.
Following the woman’s recovery, which was monitored by the medical staff at the nursing home, I used reflexology on all my clients’ standing feet with great success. I immediately began teaching these basic VRT techniques to colleagues and they achieved similar extraordinary results. In 1997, I conducted a small medically-approved and monitored study on eight chronically sick geriatric residents in the nursing home. Although multiple pathologies were present, the criterion was to measure decrease in pain and increase in mobility regardless of the medical history. Reflexologists do not diagnose specific illness but can treat specific conditions in a holistic manner, enabling the body to achieve self-healing in a shorter space of time. Over a seven-week period comprising one fifteen-minute VRT/conventional reflexology treatment per week, over 60% of the participants were found to have more mobility and a decrease in pain. Two months later, their improved status was constant. In two study cases the results were exceptional.
Click here for full paper on Mobility and Pain Study.
