This is a guest post by Katherine Atkinson, owner of Mind Body and Sole, a holistic health practice with a focus on Foot Zone Therapy, Nutritional Therapy, and Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Using signals on the feet to stimulate balance and detoxify they body has been used for thousands of years. Many cultures have cultivated their own methodology for triggering signals on the feet and most likely built upon the methods of the past to create maps and treatments.
Foot Zone Therapy, the advanced form of reflexology developed by Dr. Charles Ersdal, MD of Norway, has its foundation in traditional reflexology methods taught by Eunice Ingham in the U.S. and Hanne Marquardt (a student of Ingham) in Germany but differs in signal location and method of signal stimulation.
To identify the difference in methodology, Practitioners of Foot Zone Therapy refer to themselves in ways that are different than Reflexology Practitioners.
In fact, you may hear Foot Zone Practitioners refer to themselves using various titles and wonder if there's a difference.
The most common titles for a Practitioner of Foot Zone Therapy are - Foot Zoner, Foot Zone Practitioner, Foot Zone Therapist, FootZonologist, and European Reflexologist.
Some of these titles may be a matter of personal preference, but they can also be revealing. Let's take a look.
Foot Zoner, is a casual, "slang" term used for someone who practices Foot Zone Therapy. Those who use this term have usually been zoning for many years, and probably received their training when legal requirements for practicing Foot Zone Therapy were more onerous than they are currently.
Foot Zone Practitioner, is a more formal, modern term used by someone who sees Foot Zone clients professionally. This term gained popularity after legislation in 2014 removed massage licensing requirements from the Practitioner of Foot Zone Therapy in Utah.
Foot Zone Therapist, is a term used by some Practitioners especially if they have additional licensing, such as a massage license, that grants them an additional, legal, "right to touch", although this may not be the case.
FootZonologist, is a term used by a Foot Zone Practitioner who has been trained by Katri Nordblom of the Nordbloom American Institute of Footzonology. Katri was a student of Ersdal's who, building upon the method taught by Dr. Ersdal, added additional signals and created her own maps for her treatment. When she decided to begin her own training program, she trademarked the term Footzonology to differentiate herself from Dr. Ersdal's method of Foot Zone Therapy.
European Reflexologist, is a term used by a Foot Zone Practitioner who has been trained by a student of Ersdal who went on to develop their own methodology just as Katri Nordblom did. This Practitioner may have passed Reflexology Board exams as well. This term was used to differentiate these students from students of Dr. Ersdal.
While there are some slight differences associated with the title used by a Practitioner of Foot Zone Therapy, the methodology of treatment will be similar. For the client, you'll find that most differences will be the result of the training program the Practitioner attended rather than the title that they use.