Swollen feet

[shain r]

Hello everyone,

My name is Mona and I am new to the forum. My field is Reflexology, Aromatherapy and Bach Remedies.

I have a 57 year old client (female) whose main complaint is swollen feet, and a heavy feeling in the feet that makes her very uncomfortable. She is also a very heavy woman and knows that if she were to lose weight, she would be only helping herself. However in the meantime, she has asked me to help her. She said that when her children were younger, she would ask them to sit on her legs and this made the heaviness go away for awhile. Because of this it was suggested to her that she needed something for constricting her veins.

Other problems are: Tiredness, knee joint pain, difficulty breathing mainly when she does exercises, constipation and a sensitive stomach, low blood pressure, and slight varicose veins.

For the first treatment I did the relaxation techniques, followed by solar plexus, diaghragm, heart, bladder, ureters, kidneys, adrenals, lymph neck chest and groin. I also did large intestines. At the end of the session, I massaged the legs using the "stripping" method and she really liked that. In general she liked the whole treatment but I will have to wait until next week to know if there were any reactions and how she felt in general. I just feel that I'm missing something and would really appreciate some help or advice.

Thank you in the meantime

Mona

 

[SolarFlare]

Hello mona nice to meet you.

cant really help im afriad, seems to me that you are working on the areas which need working on for the problems she has. would be good to get the feedback from her at the next treatment and go from there. see which worked and what didnt and adapt your treatment to that?

 

[Stefi28]

Hi Mona

I am absolutely not a reflexologist but just wondered whether you had asked this woman about her diet....I mean is she lacking in any of the essential vitamins or minerals? One would assume, if she is heavy, that she doesn't eat well (although maybe I shouldn't make that assumption) but maybe she could be helped just by, for example, cutting down on sugar and salt. (But then I'm not a nutritionist either, just interested.) Oh - I just thought....water retention?

Love
Sunanda xx

 

[amethystannie]

I'm not a reflexologist either - but it does sound to me as though she needs to increase her circulation: so exercise would be good. She needs to move. When sitting she should circle her ankles and flex and point her feet from her ankles to get her calf pump going. Get her toes moving - roll her foot with a tennis ball, try to pick it up with her toes.

Hope you get some reflexology replies.
Good luck,
Sharon

 

[XyOurWoRstNIgHTmaReX]

Assuming that she doesn't have any underlying heart problems (which can cause swelling in the feet), most of her symptoms are clearly a result of her excess weight.

Maybe having refexology is her first step to taking care of herself. Presumably, the consultation would have revealed any huge problems with her diet, amount of excercise and lifestyle in general and you can begin to advise her step by step as part of your aftercare advice.

Lesley

 

[Jenny**]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your reply and I will wait until the next session to see what she has to say. I understand that I have to be more firm in telling her to make diet changes, eating less salt, etc. Again thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

Mona

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hi Sunanda,

Thank you for replying so quickly and yes, we did discuss her diet. She said that she knows she has a problem, she just can't take care of it and has been quite heavy for many years. I agree that I can suggest that she cut down on sugar and salt and start exercising more, and try and make her understand that just my treatment will not solve her problem.

Again, thank you for your help, it is always appreciated.

Mona

 

[jdwestbrook86]

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your comments and absolutely useful suggestions. At the next session I will definitely suggest that she do the feet exercises that you mentioned. She does do walking in the mornings, but this swelling happens in the evenings. I can hardly wait to hear what her reaction to these exercises will be.

Thanks again and the help is much appreciated.

Mona

 

[Canned Sausages]

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for replying and I agree that I have to advise her to do more exercising, although I have the feeling that she will not go with that idea. She brought up her weight problem and we discussed exercising (she walks), but then she continued saying how she has problems walking away from the table. I have my work cut out for me here, and I appreciate all the help I have received from everyone here.

Mona

 

[Rickbarbes]

Just don't give her too much to think about too quickly or you might overwhelm her and frighten her off.

Lesley

 

[daffodil]

if i was pretty sure it was an oedema problem, i do a lymph drainage technique in the massage at the end of the treatment, to encourage more efficient lymph function.

of course, diet, exercise and water intake advice.

 

[Flurictaid]

Hi,
as well as the great advice above........... how is the thyroid reflex....could there be an underlying issue other than diet? I recently had a client who had a similar concern..... she had been to her GP ( she also had bad back problems) who looked at her obesity as an eating disorder........ On doing reflexology her thyroid reflex was very out of balance, i asked her if the GP had checked her thyroid levels, to which she said no, I suggested that it may be worth asking the GP to check it (not alarming her of course). Her thyroid was serverly underactive and she is now on thyroxine which the GP is still trying to get to the correct level(after several months).

Just thought it worth mentioning!

Lisa x

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hi Lisa,

Yes, I have asked her to have her thyroid checked and as far as I know she had the blood tests but hasn't received her answer yet. I am meeting with her again on Tuesday and will ask her about the results. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

Mona

 

[TheBestOfTheBest]

Hi Rosie,

Could you please explain what the lympth drainage technique is. I am still studying reflexology (starting my third year) and may have already done the technique but your name for it is not familiar to me. I did work on the lymphatic area doing this three times during the treatment.

Thanks for your help and your input.

Regards,
Mona

 

[mlvefrfn]

Let us know how she gets on Mona. It sounds as though you are doing a great job with her,
Sharonx