PUT YOUR BEST FEET FORWARD

This conversational health guide offers tips on how to improve one’s health through proper foot care.

Debut author Villeneuve, a licensed massage practitioner, offers an overview of reflexology—a vast, varied field that studies the connections between the feet and the vital organs—in a book full of patient anecdotes and helpful illustrations. She asserts that certain foot-related techniques can have a tremendous impact on the health and vitality of one’s organs, including the thyroid, heart, and spleen. The book begins with a general summary of the history of reflexology, and then delves into mapping the connections between the brain and the different “reflex points” on the feet. The author also notes that one’s toes need plenty of room to move in order to maximize balance; constricting shoes, she says, can not only affect one’s posture and stability, but even one’s lymph nodes and blood flow. The author also recommends that young people, in particular, learn how to treat their feet in a heathy manner. Her stories of patients improving their health through the use of reflexology techniques are particularly compelling. In one example, the author describes how she applied pressure to a point on a woman’s hand, which instantly resolved a longtime problem that the woman had with her ear. Other anecdotal examples offer solutions to other types of ailments or imbalances. Toward the end of the book, Villeneuve usefully lists an array of common problems, such as lower back pain, calf cramps, and pains in the knees and hips, and explains their associations with specific areas of the feet. This list will be helpful information for many readers, who may find that they’re able to fix a perplexing problem with just a simple change of shoes or posture. 

An intriguing, thorough, and well-illustrated guide by a certified reflexologist.