Hand and Foot: Reflexology may aid immune system with foot massage

Section: News
Category: Lifestyle
Author: Pete Skiba petes@theunion.com
Date: Tue, Aug 1, 2000

Stress.

You're late for a business meeting, and that motorist who just passed you doing 65 mph slows down to 45 in front of you. The cell phone rings and it's tucked away in your bag on the back seat. The coffee cup in between your legs just slopped over. The man on the radio says the new e-commerce stock you bought at an initial public offering is worthless.

Stress.

Your teeth start to grind, and the acid in your stomach starts to well up to your throat. Your heart starts thumping and your blood pressure hits new highs.

A Grass Valley woman said she has a way to get to the root, or in this case, foot, of managing stress - reflexology.

"I use a therapeutic touch of gentle pressure and massage at different points on the feet, hands and ears," said Judi Gunkel of Feet First at Sierra Day Spa on Spring Street in Nevada City. "Each point I massage corresponds with a particular area, internal organ or body system."

Without claiming to cure illness, Gunkel said her reflexology treatments can open up pathways for better immune system functions.

Gunkel took a six-month course at the American Academy of Reflexology in Burbank. She has practiced her craft in Sacramento for almost seven years and opened her second office in December in Nevada City.

Reflexology is a way to help prevent disease, Gunkel said. It helps the body stay in balance by freeing the body's energy, or "chi," she said.

If something is out of balance in the body, a reflexologist can become aware of it through touch, she said. The reflexologist can then tell the client that they may be developing a problem in that area, she said.

"I have the greatest respect for doctors," Gunkel said. "But they have not been trained enough in preventative measures."

A reflexologist will only suggest what may be the health problem, Gunkel said. The practitioner is not practicing medicine and cannot prescribe medications, she said.

Gunkel ends her sessions with a deep-relaxation massage of the neck and head, leading to a feeling of renewal, she said.

Reflexology may provide some medical benefits, according to Dr. William Saidel, a Rutgers University associate professor of zoology whose field is neurobiology.

An example of a body part responding to an internal organ's distress is called "referred pain," Saidel said.

"When a person has a heart attack, the pain is felt in the left arm, but the problem is really happening in the heart," he said. Nerve tracts run up and down the spinal cord and interact with each other because they are adjacent, Saidel said. It is entirely possible that there could be an interaction between the feet and other parts of the body through what, in physiology, is called an "enphaptic" interaction, he said.

"Let's put it this way," Saidel said. "Anything that relieves stress is
good for the body."

Gregory Hight, a podiatrist with a Grass Valley practice, says he hasn't read anything in scientific literature that either supports or disproves the effects of reflexology.