Have you ever felt such intense pain in your feet that all you wanted to do was cut them off, just to do away with the pain? Well, it happened to me a few years back in high school. Out of the blue, I wake up one morning feeling a really strange pain in my feet. It was as though my feet had been electrified. I tried to brush it off, but the pain worsened.

I swallowed pain-killers and went for a foot massage but all in vain. I couldn’t walk on concrete, grass or even run around the house. I felt my feet were like a tightly filled balloon with water on the verge of bursting. I used to spend a good portion of the day just lying on my bed, staring up the ceiling, wondering when this unbearable pain would cease. This went on for about three weeks until my dad arrived from his business trip.

As soon as my dad arrived, he took me to a herbal clinic located along Rubaga road. The doctor examined my feet and pointed out several possible causes for the pain – soft muscle tissues, allergies, sinuses and low heart beat –which all turn out right. I underwent a two-month therapy known as reflexology. This kind of therapy is an alternative treatment in which someone’s feet are rubbed in a particular way in order to heal other parts of the body.

In addition to this treatment, I had several steaming sessions in which I inhaled some natural herbs to help with the allergies and sinuses. I also had my feet soaked in warm water mixed with medicine just before the massage. The doctor recommended vegetables like beetroot and a lot of exercise to strengthen my muscles. I loved every step of this therapy because a whole new world was opened up to me. I remember the first thing I did after the therapy was run around the house thankful to God for my feet.