How Reflexologists Use Auricular Therapy

Ear Reflexology Techniques Are Applied To External Ears

Oct 27, 2008
Amy Kreydin

Ear Reflexology is Relaxing - HAAP Media Ltd.

Reflexologists use Auricular Therapy in the form of Ear Reflexology to encourage relaxation, improve circulation and bring about wellness.

The term Reflexology is commonly thought to only apply to the feet; however Auricular Therapy, or Ear Reflexology, has been around since prior to the Julian calendar. It has only recently been rediscovered and is an important tool for many professional Reflexologists.

A History of Auricular Therapy

The classic Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) text, Huang Di Nei Jing, also known as the Yellow Emperor’s Medicine Classic, describes a correlation between the auricle and the body. Dating one hundred years before the Julian calendar, this is the oldest known reference to the ear reflecting other body parts for a therapeutic purpose.

In Hippocrates’ time, around 400 BC, descriptions of back pain being relieved through tiny burns to certain zones in the ears may show that the auricular theory traveled extensively.

By the time of the Tang Dynasty, 618-907 AD, there were twenty therapeutic points in the ears available to auricular acupuncture. Turning up in 1637 AD, a Portuguese physician, Zaratus Lusitanus, published a case study of his treatment for a patient with painful back problems using small burns on the ears.

In the 1950s Dr. Paul Nogier, a French physician, had patients turning up with burn marks on their ears. They were receiving treatment from a folk healer for back pain. Nogier studied the patterns and worked out the reflex cartography of the ears and presented his findings at a symposium in 1956, calling it Auricle Therapy.

Modern Auricular Therapy is utilized by Asian bodywork modalities such as Shiatsu and Anma, as well as by Acupuncturists, and of course Reflexologists. Bill Flocco, founder of the American Academy of Reflexology, has popularized Ear Reflexology through his method of Reflexology: Foot Hand Ear Reflexology. This style of Reflexology incorporates all three reflex maps into a single session – the practitioner uses only finger and thumb techniques and may spend more time on one pair of maps than the other two.

The Application of Ear Reflexology

Ear Reflexology is administered through thumb and finger pressure techniques applied to the external ears. When used alongside other reflex maps an Ear Reflexology treatment may last 10-15 minutes. As a stand alone treatment a Reflexologist may offer a 30 minute Ear Reflexology session.

Contraindications for Ear Reflexology include psoriasis or eczema sores that are open or other wounds to the ears that are not yet healed. A session should be postponed until the issue clears up or an alternative map, such as the hands, may be used. Clients with hearing assistance devices may choose to remove an external hearing aid for a session. Those with internal, or implanted, devices will best know if external stimulus to the ear will be appropriate for them.

Simple Ear Reflexology Routine

A quick routine for the ears as a self-help method can be done while seated. The fore fingers and thumbs can wrap around each ear lobe and gently “milk” downwards towards the shoulders. This rubbing can be drawn all the way to the apex of the ear – upwards to the ceiling and crown of the head. In this quick routine the reflexes for the neck, shoulders and spine are covered.