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A Short History of Swedish
Massage
Massage has been with us ever since
man first injured himself. It is instinctive
to rub or press the area involved to reduce the pain. Massage, as a form of treatment
coupled with exercises, has been passed down for thousands of years. Records show that many ancient civilisations
including China, Persia, Japan and Egypt have all practised the art of massage for
cosmetic or healing purposes. Homer, in
1000BC, spoke in his Odyssey of beautiful women rubbing and anointing war torn heroes to
refresh and revitalise them after battle. Hippocrates (460-377BC), the father
of medicine, used massage as a form of medical treatment for diseases and injuries. The Roman physician, Galen
(129-216AD) wrote “massage eliminates the waste products of nutrition and the poisons
of fatigue” long before the discovery of the blood circulatory system by Harvey,
Queen Elizabeth I's physician. During the middle ages the scientific
use of massage disappeared until the 16th century but it was Peter Henry Ling of Sweden
(1776-1839) who developed our modern techniques and influenced the spread of massage
throughout Europe and the Americas in the early 19th century. He founded the Swedish system of massage and
exercises. He introduced the terms
effleurage, pettrisage and friction as well as rolling and slapping and several other
massage movements. He also realised it was important
to have a good understanding of the physiology and anatomy of the body before applying
massage and exercises. Despite this work it
was not until the end of the 19th century that massage was universally accepted the world
over as an orthodox form of treatment. |