Reflexology & Diabetes Type II

I was very excited. It was a week that I would never forget - it was the first week of my new Reflexology practice and my promotion had already created two customers. My very first customer won a session at "half-price" for coming in second. Actually it wasn’t such a big deal, that is coming in second. Everybody who entered my contest and didn’t win the grand prize, won second prize – a full Reflexology session at half-price.

The grand prize winner booked her "freebie", and became my second client. My promotion was working three days at a major health expo with 50 other Reflexologists. First prize was a free Reflexology session.

At the end of the show I received all the entries from my market area. I drew one for the first prize and called all the others as winners of the "second" prize. Well, the "freebie" lady was a challenge – loud, miserable, demanding, unclean and the list goes on. She presented with several health challenges, walked with a cane and had a medical diagnosis of diabetes type II.

During the "free" session she made it clear right from the start that my pressure was far too light. Her words were "more pressure!!!!!" and complained through the entire session "I can’t feel you!" and "push harder".

As a rookie Reflexologist I did my best to comply. In fact, this is a whole other topic on looking after yourself. Following the session she advised that she would not likely be back as it wasn’t as good a session as she had hoped. That was the best news I could have had. In the meantime, my thumbs were in pain and I was miserable. Thank God, I had no other clients booked in my first week of business as I needed time to recuperate. I even questioned what I was doing in this field.

After a couple of days I changed my attitude. I decided that this was a great learning experience for me and in my own way I sent her thanks for the lesson.

Since the internet in those days was not yet readily available, I headed down to my local library and researched fabulous information about diabetes type II. Through all the reading, one particular symptom caught my eye. Many diabetic patients had a condition in which their feet and extremities lacked sensitivity from mild to extreme levels. This condition is called Neuropathy.

Now, isn’t that interesting. My "freebie" client was probably giving me accurate information that she could not feel my touch on her feet. Then she demanded I press harder. And, no matter how hard I pressed it was never hard enough for her. This made perfect sense.

I had always enjoyed research and analytical work in my career as a shopping centre executive and I wasn’t about to stop now. Over the past 10 years I have learned a lot about diabetes and many other conditions affecting us. Today, we recognize diabetes type II as an epidemic affecting people and domestic animals of all ages.