A Brief History of Massage

"The physician must be experienced in many things, but most assuredly in the art of rubbing."

- Hippocrates, 430 B.C.

Many writers assert that massage originated in India, or perhaps China or ancient Egypt. But the fact is, the art of massage is as old as mankind. When the first man stubbed his toe and instinctively reached down to rub the pain away, massage was born. We've been enlarging and refining the results of that discovery ever since.

For the ancients, massage was a vital part of daily life. It informed their world-view and was an essential part of everything from religious rites, sporting events and exercise, to bathing rituals and medicine.

As the centuries passed, we in the Western world began to distrust massage and its benefits. Professor Hartvig Nissen in his book, Practical Massage, published in 1932 tells us that, 'Many a poor woman was burned at the stake in northern Europe during the Middle Ages because she knew a little more than other persons and cured suffering men by massage, a magic that was looked upon as a power of Satan.' Eventually professional touch was regulated to back room 'massage parlors' and was even associated with prostitution.

Thankfully all that began to change in the 1800's with the Industrial Revolution. There was a revival of the Greco-Roman philosophy of physical exercise and manual manipulation for maintenance of the body and treatment of disease. Men like Per Henrick Ling, called the father of Swedish Massage, Dr. J. Madison Taylor and others argued for the benefits of touch therapy. In 1894 a group of five female nurses founded the first professional bodywork association, 'The Society of Trained Masseuses.'

Eventually, with the hard work and sacrficie of countless individuals we've arrived in an age where massage is almost as accepted and available as it was in ancient times. But this is also an age in which technology has isolated us from each other like never before, and we have an aging population eagerly seeking alternative therapies that will enhance and extend the quality of their lives.

A modern definition of massage is, 'Manipulation of the soft tissues for the purpose of affecting the nervous, muscular, respiratory and circulatory systems.' Through touch then we are affecting various systems of the body to bring about specific, desirable results. It's those desirable results that we're interested in, results that we're still in the process of discovering and understanding.

According to Dr. Tiffany Field of the University of Miami's Touch Research Institute, massage

REDUCES PAIN

IMPROVES IMMUNE FUNCTION

REDUCES STRESS

ALLEVIATES SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

ENHANCES ATTENTIVENESS

MAKES BABIES THRIVE

And now that you know that, what are you waiting for?

#history