|
Therapeutic Massage
Massage is probably the oldest form of healing and is the most natural and instinctive means of relieving pain.
Most civilizations have a tradition of massage and artifacts have been found in all parts of the world to support
the belief that in prehistoric times massage with oils, herbs and various substances was used for healing and to
improve well-being. From the far east to the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans the practice of massage spread with all
cultures promoting the benifits of massage.
The Greeks made massage part of their physical fitness rituals and Asclepiades a physician of the 2nd century B.C.
recommended therapeutic massage and exercisce for athletes and gladiators to relieve the fatigue and injuries
sustained in contests.The physician Herodicus of the 5th century B.C. prolonged the lives of many patients by having
them massaged with herbs and oils and his pupil Hippocrates (460-380 B.C.) the "father" of medicine wrote
"the physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing" and he believed that all physicians
should be trained in massage as a method of healing. The Romans acquired the practice of massage from the Greeks and Galen (130-200 A.D) a Greek physician to the Romanemperor Marcus Aurelius wrote many books on health, hygine and massage and his medical texts became the principal
ones in use for more than a thousand years.
With the decline of the Roman empire massage also went into decline with little recorded history of health practices
during the middle ages until the Renaissance (1450-1600) which saw a revival in the sciences.
By the sixteenth century, medical practitioners began once again to use massage as a healing modality with the likes
of Ambrose Pare (1517-1590) the inventor of the ligation of arteries, he promoted the positive effects of massage
and classified massage movements as gentle, medium and vigorous,he served as personal physician to four french kings
and also restored the health of Mary Queen of Scots using massage.
Therapeutic massage as we understand it today in the West was developed by Per Henrik Ling (1776-1836) a
Swedish physiologist and fencing master who developed his techniques after a visit to China, his system became very
popular and spread throughout Europe and to America by the latter half of the 19th century. Massage continued to be
prescribed for a range of ailments by doctors and in 1894 a group of British Masseurs formed The Society of
Trained Masseuses which in time developed into the state regulated Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.
Therapeutic massage continued to thrive until just after the 1st world war where it was used to treat post traumatic
stress disorder (shell shock). After this time Western medicine gradually started to look towards technology rather
than traditional practices and massage as a medical practice fell into decline until the 1960s when a revival of
interest in complementary medicine recognized the benifits of massage for treating a wide range of medical disorders
from asthma and circulatory problems to musculoskeletal disorders.
The Benefits of Therapeutic massage
§
Improves
venous and lymphatic circulation by causing increased pressure in the
vessels in front of the massage strokes and a subsequent vacuum in those
behind, assisting the flow of fluids in the venous and lymphatic vessels.
§
Increased
tissue permeability, massage creates a localised pressure causing pores in
tissue membranes to open, facilitating exchange of fluids and improves the
removal of waste products such as lactic acid.
§
Breakdown
of scar tissue and adhesions in tissues that restrict range of motion in
joints.
§
Pain
reduction, massage helps to reduce pain by reflexes affecting the central
nervous system and the release of endorphins which decrease pain
sensations in the brain.
§
Relaxation,
the mechanical effects of massage relaxes and balances the autonomous
nervous system by reducing output from irritated mechanoreceptors in
muscles and tendons which causes overactivity in the sympathetic nervous
system (fight or flight) and stimulates the para sympathetic nervous
system (rest and repair).
Top
of Page | Home
|
