Lecture 1.1
“Overview of History Of Massage”
“Theory and Practice of Therapeutic Massage”
Mark F. Beck
pg.3
What is massage?
Massage (muh-SAHZH is defined as the systematic manual and mechanical manipulations of the soft tissues of the body by such movements as rubbing,kneading,pressing,rolling,slapping,and trapping,for theraupeutic purposes such as promoting circulation of the blood and lymp, relaxation of muscles, relief from pain, restoration of metablic balance, and other, benefits both psysical and mental.
The massage practioner has been referred to as a massage technincian or massotherapist. In the past, a male massage practioner may have been called a masseur (ma-SUr), and a female practioner a masseuse (mas-SOOS). Today, most professionally trained men and women prefer to be called massage practioners or massage therapists. For Practical purposes, massage practioner or massage therapist will be the terms throughout this book…
Pg.4
Origin of name
*The origin of the word massage can be traced to at least five sources: The *Greek root masso, or massein, means to touch or to handle but also means to knead or to squeeze.
*The latin root massa comes directly form the Greek masso and means the same.
*The Arabic root mass’h, or mass means to press soflty.
*The Sanskrit word makeh also means to press softly.
*The modern use of the term massage to denote using the hands to apply manipulations of the soft tissues is a fairly recent origin. The term was first used in American and European literature around 1875. In America, the use of the word massage was popularized by Douglas Graham from Massachussets. *The term massage, as well as the common names for the strokes (effleurage, perissage, tapotement) and frictions, is generally attributed to a Dutchman, Johann George Mezger… (not to be confused with Johann Jack 10.23!)
Ancient Times
Even though the term massage is fairly new, the practice of various techniques can be traced back to intiquity. Massage is one of the earliest remedical practices of mankind and is said to be the most natural and instinctice means of relieving pain and discomfort. When a person has sore, aching muscles, abdominal pains, a bruise or wound, it is a natural and instinctive impulse to touch, press, and rub that part of the body to obtain relief.
Artifacts have been found in many countries to support the belief that in perhistoric times men and women massaged thie muscles and rubbed herbs, oils, and various substances on their bodies as healing and protective agents. According to various reports, in nearly ass ancient cultures some form of touch or masssage was practiced…Massage has been a major part of medicine for at least five thousand years and important in western medical traditions for at least three thousand years. …It has been written about extensively in medical books since 500BC and was a major topic in the first medical texts printed after the discovery of the printing press (WHO DA- SCOVERED THAT ?)
PG.5
Chinese Amma Techniques
In british museum, records reveal that as early as 3000 bc massage was practiced by the chinese. The Cong Fou of Tao-Tse was one of the ancient Chinese books that described the use of medicinal plants, exercises, and a system of massage for the treatment of disease and the maintenance of health. The chinese continued to improve their massage techniques through a special procedure they called amma. The massage techniqu was developed over many years of experience in finding points on the body where various movements such as rubbing, pressing and manipulations were most effective…Modern term for chinese massage is tui-na which literally means to “push pull”
PG.6
The practice of the amma method of massage entered Japan around the sixth century AD. The points of stimulation remained much the same but were called tsubo. These points are pressed to effect the circulation of fluids and Ki (life force energy) and stimulated nerves in a finger pressure technique the Japanese called shiatsu. The massage has become quite popular in recent years. Early records show that a book on massage, The San-Tsai-Tou-Hoei, was published by the Japense in the 16th century and listed both passive and active massage procedures.
Indian and Hindu Practices
Massage has been practiced on the Indian Subcontinent for over 3000 years. Knowledge of massage came to India from the Chinese and was an important part of the Hindu tradition. THe Ayur-Veda (art of life), a sacred book of the Hindus written around 1800 B.C, inclued massage treatments amoung its hygienic principles. In writings dating back to 300 B.C., The Laws of Manu, or The Laws of Man, defined the duties of everyday life. These included diet, bathing, exercise, and tshampan, or massage at the bath. Tshanpau included kneading the extremities, tapotement, frictioning, annointing with perfumes, and cracking the joints of the fingers, toes,neck
PG.7
Greek Massge and Gymnastics
From the East, the practive of massage spread to Europe and is believed to have flourished well before 300 B.C. The Greeks made gymnastics and the regualr use of massage part of their physical fitness rituals. Homer, (not to be confused with homer simpson),the greek poet who wroe the Illaid and Odyssey (the story of the trojan war), in the ninth century B.C.< spoke of the use of nutrious foods, exercise, and massage for war heroies to promote healing and relaxation. The Greek priest-physican Aesculpius, who lived in the seventh century B.C.; was the first in a long line of physcians and was later worshipped as the God of Medicine (as I will be oneday ). He said to have combine exercise and discuss ideas. It was a place where the young educated, soldiers trained, the sick healed,. The staff of Aesculapius with its serpents remains today as a the symbol of medicine and pharmacy.
Greek women participated in gymnastics and dancing, and used the massage as part of their health and beuty regimnets. The greeks referred to exercise as ascesis, based on their belief that an ascete was a person who excised his or her body and mind. This was the same principle as today’s holistic health concept of the cultivation of total health of body and mind.
The Greek Physican Herodicus of the fith century B.C. prolonged the lives of many of his patients with diet, exercise, and massage using beneficial herbs and oils. Herodutus, the Greek historian of the time , wrote of the benefits of massage. Hippocates (460-380 B.C.), a pupil of Herodicus and a descendate in the lineage of physicians, the Hippocatic Oath, is still in use today. This oath, which incoporates a code of ethics for physicians and those about to reveive medical degrees, binds physicians to honor their teachers, do their best to mantain the health of their patients, honor their patient’s secrets,and prescribe no harmful treatment or drug (FDA!)…
***That hippocrates understood the effects of massage is revealed in one of his decriptions of massage movements. He said, “Hard rubbing binds, much rubbing causes parts to waste, and moderate rubbing makes them grow” This has been interpreted to mean that rubbing can help to bind a joint taht is too loose or loosen a joint that is too tight. Vigurous rubbing can tighten and firm, while moderate rubbing wich means the art of rubbing, a part upward, not downward. He stated that it is advice Hippocrates gave STILL SERVES AS VALUABLE GUIDELINE FOR MODERN PRACTIONERS. Hippocrates believed that all physicians should be trained in massage as a method of healing.
p.8
Roman Art of Massage and Therupeutic Bathing
The Romans acquired the practice of theraputic bathing and massage from the Greeks. The Romans built public baths that were available to rich and poor alike. A brisk rubdown with fragment oils could be enjoyed following hte bath. The art of massage was also highly respected as treatment for weak and diseased conditions and as an aid in removing stiffness and soreness in muscles.
The Romans, as the Greeks before them used massage as part of their gymnastics. Celsus, who lived during the reign of Emperor Tiberius (about 42 BC to 37 AD), was considered to be one of the most eminent of Roman Physicans. He wroe extensively on many subjects, including medicine. De Medicina deals extensively with prevention of extensively with prevention and theraputics using massage, exercise, and bathing. He recommended rubbing the head for headaches and rubbing the limbs to strengthen muscles and to combat paralysis. Massage was used to improve sluggish circulation and internal disorders and to reduce edema. Although circulation of the blod was not completely understood, phycians of the time followed the teaching of Hippocrates and believed that rubbing upward was more effective than rubbing downward…The Greek Phycians Claudius Galen (130-200 AD), who became physician to the roman emperor marcus arelius, is said to have discoverd arteries and veins contain bood: however, William Harvey (1578-1657), an English physician, is credited with discovering the circulation of blood in 1628. Galen was a prolific writer, and his medical texts were the principal ones in use for more than a thousand years. As a physican to gladiators (Imagine that Clemson?), Galen gained great knowledge of anatomy. His books on hygienic, health , exercise and massage stressed specific anatomy. His books on hygienice health, exercisel, and massage stressed SPECIFIC EXERCISES FOR VARIOUS PHYSICAL DISORDERS! Greek and Roman philosophrs, statesman, and historians such as Cicero Pliny, Plutarch, and Plato (not to be confused with the dough) wrote of the importance of massage and passive and active exercise to the maintenance of a healthy body and mind. Even Julius Gaius Caesar, Roman general and Emperor of Rome (100-44 BC) is said to have demanded his daily massage for the relief of neuralgia and prevention of epileptic attacks. Both the Bible and the Korn mention the use of oils and aromatics to lubricate and anoint the skin.
pg.8-9
Decline of Arts/Sciences in West
WIth the decline of the Roman Empire, begining around 180 AD., the popularity of bathing and massage also declined. According to Richard van Why, "The Roman emperor Constantine (228-337 A.D) who converted to Christianity (did he really), abolished and destroyed the baths and gymanisums because of widespread abuses of a sexual nature (wow there). Orribasius, Antyllus, Caelius Aurelianus, Aetius of Amida, and Paul of Aegine are some of the few medical writers and physicians who lived during the decline of the Roman Empire (you dont need to know that class). They all wrote favorably of the use of massage, exercise and bathing as therapeutic and conditioning agents.
There is little recored history of health pracitces during the middle ages ( the dark ages)…Massage was practiced sporadically by laypeople, folk healers,and midwives and was occassionally the object of the persecution as a magic cure and work of Satan. (truedat).
The Arabic Empire and Rise of Islam.
The begining of seventh century, the spread of Isalm throughout the Norh Africa, Asia Minor, Meso, and Persia actually served to preserve much of the Greco-Roman Culture…The Islamic Persian philosopher/physician Rhazes, or Razi (860-932) was a follower of Hippocrates and Galen and a prolific writer. He wrote several books, the most important of which was an encycopedia of Arabic, Roman, and Greek medical practices that esteemed the use of exercise, diet, and massage in the treatment of disease and perservation of health. Another prominent Persian philo/phys., Avicenna (980-1037 A.D.), authorized what is considered to be THE MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE BOOK IN MEDICAL HISTORY. He was an ardent follower of Galen, and the CANON OF MEDICINE made numerous references to the use of massage, exercise, and bathing…Volumes paved way for Renaissance writings
The Renaissance Revies Interest in Health Practices
The Renaissance called (rebirth)....revived interests in arts, and sciences.
Ater a long intellectual slumber (which we have again falling into I would guess) the classical writings of the anciet Greek, Roman, and Persian masters were revived and studied as a basis from which to develop new ideas. …(dr.sprints favorie period)
The Growth and Acceptance of Massage as a healing Aid
By the sixteenth century, medical practioners began to reinvent and employ massage as part of their healing treatments. Ambroise Pare (1517-1590), a french barber-surgeon, one of the founders of modern surgery and inventor of the ligation of arteries, described in one of his publications the positive effects of massage in the healing process. He classified massage movementes, as gently, meduim, and vigorous, frictions and employed flexion, extension, and ciccumduction of joints. His concepts were passed down to other French Physicians who believe in the value of physical therapuetics. During his lifetime, Pare served as personal physician to four of France's Kings (see ato I know about france). He is credited with restoring the health of Mary, Quen of Scots (1542-1587) by use of massage. Mercurialis (1530-1606), a professor of medicine at the university of Padua, Italy, published a book, De Arte Gymnastica, in 1959 on gymnastics and the benefits of massage when intrerated into the treatments for the body and mind.
p.10
The other centuries…
During the 16th,17th,18th centuries witnessed an expansion in all fields of knowledge…subjects were taught in institutions of higher learning to …though a body of knowledge was never established, so techniques were lost and rediscovered through the ages. (ART maybe!?)
In the early part of the 19th century , John Grosvenor (1742-1823), a well-respected English surgeon and practioner of chirurgy (healing with the hands), stressed to his colleagues the value of friction in the relief of stiff joints, gout and rheumatism. His efforts helped further the belief in massages as an aid to healing.
p.11
THE LING SYSTEM
Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839) of Smaaland, Sweden, a physiologist and fencing master, IS KNOWN AS THE FATHER OF PHYSICAL THERAPY. He systemized and developed movements he found to be beneficial in improving his own physical condition. He called the system of movements MEDICAL GYMNASTICS. He based this system on the developing science of PHYSIOLOGY. THE LING SYSTEM’S primary focus was on gymnastics applied to treatment of disease and consisted of movements classified as actice, duplicated, and passive. ACTIVE MOVEMENTS were performed by the patient and could be referred to as exercise. DUPLICATED MOVEMENTS were performed by the patient in cooperation with the therapist. These corresponded to modern-day resistive or assistive exercises. PASSIVE MOVEMENTS were perfomed by the therapist to the patient and would be considered range of motion and massage. In 1813 Ling established the Royal Swedish Central In of Gymnastics, which was chartered and finacanced by the Swedish governement. Ling died in 1839, but his students published his works pothusmously. The Ling System, more commonly known called Swedish Movements or the MOVEMENT CURE, spread throughout Europe and Russia. By 1851 there were 38 institutions for education in…generally open to learned men…with classes lasting from 6-8 hours per day.