There is evidence to support a form of hand and foot therapy as far back as 4,000 B.C. in China.  Also there are wall paintings depicting early signs of reflexology found in Ancient Egypt in the pyramid of Ankmahor, known as the ‘physician’s tomb’ . These paintings date back to approximately 2,500 B.C.

The work of Dr William Fitzgerald in the early 1900’s played a significant role in moving towards modern reflexology after he published ‘zone therapy’, which worked on the premise that the body was divided into 10 longitudinal zones with each toe defining a zone that went up through the body. In some respects this built upon the work of the Chinese who, as far back as 2,500 B.C. had divided the body into longitudinal meridians for acupuncture.

In the 1930's Eunice Ingham, an American Physiotherapist built on zone therapy by intricately mapping the organs and glands of the body onto reflex points on the feet and hands. Her foot map has provided the basis for many of the maps used by reflexologists today and she is now often referred to as ‘The Mother of Reflexology’.