How To Do Hand Reflexology

Hand reflexology is as effective as any other type of reflexology, however, if you have the choice to do foot reflexology, it is preferred as foot reflexes are closer to the surface of the skin, Doing reflexology on the hand will give you the same results as doing it on any other part of the body, the results just take a little longer to take affect.

We use hand reflexology mainly for doing reflexology on yourself to relieve symptoms such as headaches, constipation and shoulder aches.

For all of these great tips for hand reflexology pain relief and much more click here

There is a completely different technique for hand reflexology than other types of reflexology, mainly because the hands are very flexible and the reflexes are much deeper under the skin.So you need to reach deeper and hold for longer .

Every reflexology treatment begins with a relaxation exercise.

The relaxation exercise sets up the tone of the treatment as relaxing and helps to soothe the muscles before you get into a therapeutic deeper massage of the reflexes.

When doing hand reflexology the relaxation treatment is a beautiful hand massage.

Hand Reflexology

Step 1. Relaxation Exercise

The best way is to sit across a table from the person receiving reflexology, with a towel under the hands/ wrists, for comfort.

Use a little massage or baby oil, and begin rubbing around the wrist of the right hand. Use big gentle sweeping movements of the thumbs.

Now move into the palms of the hands, working from the middle/ inside of the palm slowly to the edges. Do this a few times.

Turn the hand over and very gently use your thumbs to push along from the bottom of the fingers to the wrist. This is very relaxing but be careful not to apply too much pressure because it will cause pain.

Grab each finger one at a time, and hold it as if to wring it off and give it a gentle squeeze. Hold the same finger close to the base and gently slide along from the base to the tip, now rotate the finger both ways. Do each finger like this.

Gently give the hand a last squeeze and then pat off the oil with the towel, and begin the other hand.

Step 2. Hand Reflexology Techniques

Hand reflexology techniques are generally the same...

Apply firm pressure with one finger or thumb, in a circular motion, for about three seconds each way.

The other way is to gently pinch from either side and apply the same gentle circular motion.

These techniques are best for the hand as they reach the deep reflexes and manage to stimulate them.

Step 3. Begin doing reflexology

Begin by doing all of the right hand and then all of the left hand.

As we have already rotated the fingers in the relaxation exercises, we can skip straight to stimulating the meridian points of the hand.

Using one thumb or finger apply pressure in a circular motion for five seconds clockwise, and anti clockwise on each meridian point shown in the diagram below. The meridian points on the hands are:

Lung Meridian

Colon/ Large Intestine Meridian

Heart Constrictor Meridian

Triple Burner Meridian

This meridian is best described by the ancient Chinese medical text the Nei Ching "the triple burner is not exactly an organ, but a relationship between a number of organs.." It relates to the three main cavities of the body and the organs within. So is an essential meridian point to stimulate to promote regular balance within the whole body.

Heart

Small Intestine

For the next step have the hand laying flat, palm face upwards.

Using the technique from Step 2 (not the pinching technique) gently work across the area on the hand underneath the base of the fingers, the area as shown in the diagram below.

Turn the hand over so that it is palm faced down. Using the same technique work the entire back of the hand, work down from the knuckles to the wrist and around the wrist bone.

Turn the hand back over so that it is palm faced up. Using the technique from Step 2 (not the pinching technique) gently work across the middle and the side of the palm, the area shown in the diagram below.

Now work the gland area, the fleshy pad joining the thumb to the hand.

And to finish off the treatment work from the tip of the thumb, down to where the thumb and the wrist meet, and across the bottom of the wrist. This is your spine area.

Once you have finished the treatment grab the oil again and finish with a couple of minutes worth of relaxation exercises to keep the tone of the treatment, and then move onto doing the left hand.

Whenever you are doing reflexology remember to have the person receiving it to drink a lot of water. This is important because an increase in blood circulation means that your body will get rid of waste quicker, but water is what the waste travels in, so make sure to have enough water to get rid of any excess body waste from the blood system to avoid 24 hours of flu like symptoms.

Hand reflexology is great to do on other people but we think that it is the best one for doing reflexology to yourself and also is the best one for getting rid of headaches.

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