What Are Pressure Point Therapies?
Acupuncture and acupressure started in China several thousand years ago. The
practice spread to Korea around 300 CE and to Japan in the seventeenth century. In
the late nineteenth century a Canadian physician, Sir William Osler, became inter-
ested in acupressure techniques, but they remained largely unknown in North
America until the 1970s. Accompanying President Richard Nixon on his trip to
China in 1972, James Reston, a reporter for the New York Times, wrote about his
experience with acupuncture for relief of pain following abdominal surgery in
China. This article began the upsurge of interest in these therapies in the United
States. Consumers in the United States have increasingly turned to acupuncture and
acupressure to maintain their health and treat various disorders. They spend $500
million a year on acupuncture for complaints ranging from low-back pain to
migraines to gallstones. Used with great success on humans for thousands of years,
acupuncture and acupressure are now available for cats, dogs, and horses through
veterinarians trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Jin Shin Jyutsu(pronounced jin-shin JIT-soo) and Jin Shin Doare Japanese phrases
meaning The Way of the Compassionate Spirit. They are ancient practices that fell
into relative obscurity until they were dramatically revived in the early 1900s by
Master Jiro Murai in Japan. Dying from a terminal illness, he turned in desperation
to Jin Shin Jyutsu and meditation. Within a week he was completely well. He spent
the remaining 50 years of his life researching and sharing his knowledge of this
healing art, which he referred to as the art of happiness, the art of longevity, and
the art of benevolence. After World War II, a Japanese American, Mary Burmeister,
studied with Master Murai for many years and eventually returned to the United
States with the “gift” of Jin Shin Jyutsu and Jin Shin Do. Today, thousands of stu-
dents throughout the United States and around the world study and practice Jin Shin
Jyutsu and Jin Shin Do.
Reflexology, an associated ancient practice, limits the use of acupressure points, or
reflexes, to the feet, hands, and ears. William Fitzgerald, an American physician,
introduced reflexology to the West in 1913. He noted that postoperative pain was less
when pressure was applied to people’s feet and hands just before surgery. In spite of
Fitzgerald’s work, it was the efforts of Eunice Ingham, a physical therapist, who
expanded and refined Fitzgerald’s observations and found that reflexology not only
reduced pain but provided other health benefits as well. Ingham mapped the specific
reflex zones on the feet, hands, and ears that reflexologists use today. This work gave
her the distinction of being the founder of modern reflexology in the West.
The United States has more than 40 schools and colleges of acupuncture, 20 of
which have either been approved or are currently being reviewed for approval by
the National Accreditation Commission for Schools and Colleges of Acupuncture156 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TOALTERNATIVE MEDICINE