What is Massage Therapy?
From the beginning of recorded history, Massage Therapy has been a vital part of health care and wellness. The art of massage was first mentioned by Chinese folk doctors in the Nei Ching, the oldest medical textbook published in 2958 B.C. Even Hippocrates (466-377 B.C.), the founder of modern Western medicine, said that physicians should be skilled in the art of touch and that massage is essential to healing and easing of pain. About 200 years ago, Sweden’s Per Henrik Ling melded Chinese therapies with traditional local techniques to create what is known throughout the world as Swedish Massage. Whether it’s used to improve athletic performance, medical conditions or to help elderly people retain the mobility necessary for an independent life, Massage Therapy is an essential ingredient in the recipe for wellness.
A. The definition of ‘massage’ is manual soft tissue manipulation, and includes holding, causing movement, and/or applying pressure to the body. Therapy is a series of actions aimed at achieving or increasing health and wellness. Therefore, ‘Massage Therapy’ is a treatment in which the practitioner applies manual techniques, and may apply adjunctive therapies, with the intention of positively affecting the health and well-being of the client. ‘Manual’ means by use of hand or body. More about the techniques of Massage Therapy.
Massage therapy is the soothing and relaxing method of relieving aches and pain, as well as improving health, by stroking, kneading and applying pressure to the muscles and other soft tissues in the body. Massage enthusiasts report astounding results, including dramatically improved health and well being.
Massage therapy is recognized as one of the oldest methods of healing, with references in medical texts nearly 4,000 years old. In fact, Hippocrates, known as the “father of medicine,” referenced massage when he wrote, in the 4th century B.C.: “The physician must be acquainted with many things, and assuredly with rubbing.” Today, in addition to “rubbing,” massage therapy refers to the application of various techniques to the muscular structure and soft tissues of the body that include applying fixed or movable pressure, holding, vibration, rocking, friction, kneading and compression using primarily the hands, although massage therapists do use other areas of the body, such as the forearms, elbows or feet. All of the techniques are used for the benefit of the musculoskeletal, circulatory-lymphatic, nervous, and other systems of the body.
