Contributed By Sandy | Published: Mar 5, 2005
The genesis of massage can be traced back to the Chinese
book Con-Fu of the Toa-Tse from 3000 BC, which is also the
oldest known book written about massage. This is a method
of relief for people with minor injuries, pains and
discomfort. As rubbing relieves man of minor discomforts,
probably early man also learnt that by rubbing certain
plants on the affected area could help out in easing the
pain. This probably resulted in development of the current
system of massage
The root word for the word ~Massage~ is the Arabic word
~mass~h~ - which means to press gently. While massage has
been existing in its basic form, only recently has it taken
its new avatars. Perhaps the earliest description of
massage is from China where Chinese priests practiced the
art of ~Qi Gong~ - this was the meditative movement to
reveal and cultivate the vital life force. This treatment
relied on the presumption that all illness is due to an
imbalance of ~Qi~. The Japanese monks who were studying
Buddhism in China in about 1,000 BC, observed this healing
method and took it back to Japan. At that time, the
Japanese practice of medicine mostly consisted of diagnosis
and treatment with massage-type methods. Thus, they were
able to enhance on the Chinese style by introducing new
combinations. This was named Shiatsu--- where ~shi~ means
finger and ~atsu~ meaning pressure.
This form of medical treatment was known and practiced by
many civilizations. The native Americans used heat and
massage with herbs to treat many problems; ancient Greeks
used it in most avenues of daily life including helping
athletes; Romans learnt medical techniques from the Greeks.
This was the preferred choice of treatment by emperors
especially in the first century AD when Galen, a notable
physician used massage to treat many types of disease and
physical injuries.
Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC) ~the father of medicine~ used
herbs with oils and massage techniques to treat many
medical conditions. Homer in his work Odyssey describes
massage as ~welcome relief to exhausted war heroes~. As the
Dark Ages came to an end and Renaissance begin, medicine
saw a shift from the centuries old teaching of Galen.
Massage became unpopular in Europe because of the
conservative and repressive religious dogma, which did not
allow touching as it involved corporal pleasures which were
considered sinful.
Pehr Henrik Ling, who is considered as the father of modern
massage, established the Royal Central Institute of
Gymnastics in Sweden in 1813. He is credited with
formalizing a series of gymnastic movements and massage
techniques that later came to be known as the Swedish
massage. These techniques included stroking, pressing,
squeezing and striking. This was the most major step taken
in the advancement of this technique since the dark ages.
While the modern medical fraternity was reserved in its
opinion regarding the use of massage as a healing
technique, it was in 1992 that the ~Touch Research
Institute~ was established at the University of Miami
School of Medicine. This institute is devoted to the study
of touch and has established facts through various
researches that massage is useful. It has established that
massage can induce weight gain in premature infants,
alleviate depressive symptoms, reduce stress hormones,
alleviate pain and alter the immune system in children and
adults with many medical conditions.
Tiffany Proffot is the propriator and operator of Alta
Massage one of the leading information resources on
the subject of massage available on line. For more
information, and immediate access to his articles
library, visit http://www.altamassage.com
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