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Massage tools, Massagers, Herbal Heat Therapy, Buckwheat
Pillows, and Supports
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History of Massage in Western Culture
Native Americans also used heat and massage with herbs to treat many
problems. The Cherokee and Navaho were among many tribes who rubbed their
warriors before they went to war and when they returned. Massage was used to
ease the labor pains of women and colic in infants.
Western Massage
The ancient Greeks valued the benefits of massage very highly, using it in
most avenues of daily life. Techniques were developed to help athletes to keep
their bodies in the best condition for competitions. They also used massage for
relaxation. Physicians of the time such as Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC)
‘the father of medicine’, used herbs with oils and massage techniques to treat
many medical conditions. He stated that "anyone wishing to study medicine must
master the art of massage." Greek women also recognized the value of massage
with aromatic oils, using them as a beauty treatment for the skin and face.
Homer in his work Odyssey describes massage as "welcome relief to exhausted war
heroes."
The Romans learnt many of their medical techniques from the Greeks. Galen, a
notable physician to several Emperors in the first century AD, used massage to
treat many types of disease and physical injuries. He cited Hippocrates saying
rubbing, if strenuous, hardens the body, if gentle relaxes... rubbing should be
employed, when either a feeble body has to be toned up, or has to be
softened, or harmful excess fluid is to be dispersed, or a thin and infirm body
has to be nourished."
Julius Caesar, who suffered from neuralgia, had his body ‘pinched’ every day
to help greater blood flow and reduce fatty tissue below the skin. The wealthy
would be massaged in their own home, by their personal physician, but many
others received treatment at public baths, where both trainers and doctors plied
their trade. Public baths were often funded by benefactors, so the entrance fee
was nominal, hence baths were bustling places.
With the end of the fourteenth century came the end of the Dark Ages and the
beginning of the Renaissance. The Renaissance brought along with it many great
discoveries in the arts and sciences.
Massage became unpopular during this period as Europe was overcome by a
conservative and repressive religious dogma. Touching was not considered as part
of the healing method as it involved corporal pleasures and these were
considered sinful.
Swedish Massage
There were very few advances in massage until 1813, when Pehr Henrik Ling
established the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in Sweden. In the
nineteenth century the most common treatments for illness were blood letting and
the use of purgatives. Physicians put their faith in science, and new drugs such
as Calomel, mercury and arsenic based tonics, were in common usage. Ling
formalized a series of gymnastic movements and massage techniques which have
become known as Swedish massage. These techniques included ‘effleurage’ or
stroking, ‘petrisage’ or pressing and squeezing and ‘tapotement’ or striking.
Ling is sometimes credited with being the father of modern massage.
In the mid 1800's massage tools emerged as a focal point of massage.
More on history of massage tools
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