You might think that massage therapy may be a modern trend that natural healing practitioners are pushing. That’s partially true. The medical benefits of massage therapy are certainly being touted lately, but it’s not new. Massage therapy is a component of a standard holistic system of healing methods that began about 5,000 years ago.
The origin of massage therapy and ancient methods
The history of massage therapy dates back
to 3000 BCE (or earlier) in India, where it had been considered a sacred system
of natural healing. employed by Hindus in Ayurveda “life health” medicine, body massage in Delhi, therapy was a practice passed down through generations to heal
injuries, relieve pain, and stop and cure illnesses. Promoters of Ayurveda
believe that illness and disease are caused when people are out of sync with
the environment. Massage is believed to revive the body’s natural and physical
balance in order that it can heal naturally.
As
culture and history evolved, the healing methods of massage travelled to China
and Southeast Asia about 2700 BCE. Chinese massage methods developed as a
mixture of skills and practices of traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts
and therefore the spiritual yoga training of Buddhists and Taoists. Their
methods were very almost like those of the Indians, supported the assumption
that disease was caused by an imbalance or deficiency of energy of varied
pathways. the traditional Chinese developed a text called The Yellow Emperor’s
Classic Book of general medicine that's today considered a staple of massage
therapy medicine (acupuncture, acupressure and herbal remedies).
By 2500 BCE, massage therapy had made its
thanks to Egypt, where it had been depicted in tomb paintings. The Egyptians
added their own bodywork techniques and are credited with developing
reflexology, which involves applying pressure to specific points or zones on
the feet and hands to effect healing.
Later, monks studying Buddhism in China
brought massage therapy to Japan in 1000 BCE and put their own twist thereon,
calling it “anma,” later referred to as Shiatsu. this system is meant to manage
and strengthen organs by rebalancing energy levels through the stimulation of
pressure points in hopes of bringing natural resistance to illness.
Massage therapy in Ancient Greece and
therefore the Roman Empire
The Egyptians influenced the Greeks and
Romans used massage therapy in several ways. In Greece, between 800 and 700
BCE, athletes used massage to condition their bodies before competitions, and
doctors often applied herbs and oils together with massage to treat various
medical conditions. Hippocrates, the “father of drugs,” treated physical
injuries within the 5th Century BCE with friction, a massage technique, and was
the primary to prescribe a mixture of massage, proper diet, exercise, fresh air
and music to revive health imbalance – a remedy we hear of even today.
Roman physician Galen, within the 1st
Century BCE, used massage therapy on emperors, echoing Hippocrates’ ideas of
treating injuries and illnesses. the rich Romans would have massages in their
homes, but the overall public would flock to the Roman baths for “spa”
treatments and full-body massages, to stimulate circulation and loosen their
joints.
The popularity of massage therapy declined
within the West until the 17th Century when new discoveries in pharmacology
and medical technology changed modern medicine. However, many doctors could see
the health benefits of massage.
A Swedish doctor brought massage therapy
out of retirement
In the early 1800s, Swedish
doctor/gymnast/teacher Per Henrik Ling created a way that became referred to as
the Swedish Movement Cure to assist relieve chronic pain. the maximum amount
medical gymnastics as massage therapy, it had been the precursor to what we now
know as Swedish massage – a method that involves stroking, pressing, squeezing
and striking.
Whereas Ling’s method used massage in his
movements, 19th-Century Dutchman Johan George Mezger is credited with
incorporating techniques that are used today:
• Effleurage, which uses long, gliding
strokes from the extremities inward at various levels of pressure
• Petrissage, a way that's rhythmic and
should include kneading, skin rolling, lifting or a push-pull movement
• Tapemotement, a beating/tapping
administered with the side of the hand, a cupped hand or fingertips utilized in
Swedish massage
• Friction, a way that's physically
demanding, consisting of deep, circular or crosswise movements with the thumbs,
fingertips, palms or elbows, designed to penetrate deep tissue
America jumps on the massage therapy
bandwagon
As early because the 1700s, “rubbers”
(women hired by surgeons to treat orthopaedic problems with manual rubbing and
friction) were the massage practitioners of the day. By the 1850s, however,
“medical gymnasts” used movement and manipulation, as developed by Ling, to try
to to an equivalent thing. Their comprehensive training included anatomy, physiology,
hygiene, pathology and movement perceptions that they practised in hospitals
and clinics.
By the late 1800s, the names “masseur” and
“masseuse” became popular. These practitioners were trained in soft tissue
manipulation à la Mezger. Hydrotherapy was utilized in conjunction with a body spa in Delhi at this point and will be considered the origin of today’s spa services, like
body wraps and scrubs.
Curiously, the full-body massage became a
part of the “rest cure” for the melancholy referred to as neurasthenia that was
popular among society ladies who lived the rich life of the late 1800s.
Massage therapy within the 20th and 21st
Centuries
The demand for masseurs and masseuses
increased within the early 1900s. By the 1930s, Swedish massage had evolved,
and therefore the physiotherapists who used it in regular medicine helped
massage therapy to become a legitimate and respectable sort of medicine.
Once physiotherapy was licensed within the 1950s, massage therapy had its own category. The American Massage Therapy Association
(AMTA) was established and laid the groundwork for today’s massage
practitioners by establishing ethics and education standards.
Between 1970 and 2000, massage therapy
experienced a change, as people chose to measure healthier lifestyles and preferred
more holistic approaches to health care, pain management and restoring and
maintaining healthy bodies. Today, many realize that “massage is sweet
medicine.”
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