Reflexology offers patients relief by stimulating pressure points in the feet

• The phrase "putting your best foot forward" takes on a whole new meaning at St. Mary's Wholistic Center at Our Lady of Peace in Louisville.
• It is there that Sister Lucille Phipps uses a technique called reflexology to win the hearts of clients by applying pressure to certain points on their feet.
• "If I were wealthy, I'd be here every day," said Adele Lamping of Louisville, who's been getting her feet done by Phipps for several years.
• Reflexology is a form of alternative or complementary medicine in which pressure is applied to reflex points or "sensors" on the feet -- sometimes the hands and earlobes, too -- to improve or maintain health and well-being.
• The theory is that "there are reflexes in the feet and the hands" that "correspond to all of the parts of the body -- all of the glands and organs and systems," said Sheryl Hammond, a reflexologist who practices at the Center for Integrative Health in Louisville.
• "It is able to stimulate the whole energy flow through the nervous system," said Hammond, who was trained by the International Institute of Reflexology in St. Petersburg, Fla.
• I feel really energized, but I'm relaxed at the same time,' and that's kind of the balance that the body is really working towards, and when you're at that balance, then you do experience better health.
• Similar comments are made by reflexology practitioners, who typically say that the practice isn't designed to replace a trip to the family physician but rather to be an adjunct or complement to conventional medicine.
• "Usually, most of it is done with your fingertips," using "alternating pressure," Phipps said as she worked on Karrer's feet.
• Phipps begins by working on the lower legs, making inchworm movements with her fingers, "to become acquainted with" the client's body.