History of Massage

0:01 cure the team my name is ben and today we're going to have a brief trip back in history and have a look at the history of massage through the ages so if we begin in ancient times clay tablets have been found from about 2350 bc and ancient babylon implying that massage had been used ever since then and around the same time there's evidence of massage being used in china and egypt in china we've got manuscripts dating back to the zao dynasty describing massage as being one of the five main treatments of the era it was known as armor and involved rubbing and finger pressure along the meridians of the body with the egyptians artwork has been found in the tomb of akmanoa showing a

0:47 physician performing foot and hand massage is believed the trade routes helped to spread the knowledge of massage to india where massage was integrated with yoga to promote and maintain health spirituality and vitality and over in japan the chinese philosophy of armor was developed to form shiatsu which also uses finger and thumb pressure on subu or energy points along the meridians in ancient greece a medical practitioner acclepius was revered as a god due to his healing arts and he held massage in such high esteem that he abandoned the use of medicine altogether and claimed that massage cures an effect by restoring the nutritive fluids at the natural free movements eclepius's legacy continues with a symbol of the medical staff with

1:34 two serpents wrapped around it hippocrates followed a clepius and became known as the father of modern medicine hippocrates promoted natural medicines and hand-on techniques and a triptus which meant to rub as a primary cure then with alexander the great's conquests it took the greeks east as far as india and when the soldiers returned they brought the art of indian head massage and as greek physicians arrived in rome they were treated like slaves until the knowledge of healing arts grew respect and they were granted the rights of free citizens julius caesar was known to have endorsed and used massage and this allowed their knowledge to be dispersed across the entire roman empire across europe into britain claudius gallon

2:19 was a prominent physician at the time and he was a physician to the gladiators and he used massage techniques to treat their injuries at the time gladiators were like the rock stars or the football players and they were very valuable he would give lectures and demonstrations on the theory and practice of medicine including massage and around the same time in rome orlis celsius was publishing the medicina which is a medical textbook in which rubbing and exercises were strongly favored as a form of therapeutic relief around 400 bc large greek gymnasiums called esclapion were built dedicated to healing and education the young men's hall was central to these where men would come and talk sport and politics and massage each

3:05 other at the same time the roman baths were similar of importance and popularity the dark ages began around ad400 and they were so named because of a lack of learning at this time in most of europe christianity had a huge influence over people's beliefs with the fall of rome and much of rome being overrun with warring tribes much of the learning such as aurus celsus book the medicina was lost christian doctrine discouraged the use of the body for pleasure and considered it sinful some folk healers used massage at this time but as it was considered sinful they were often punished and shunned although it was considered the dark ages in the christian world during this time islam

3:51 was founded in arabia by the prophet muhammad and by 750 a.d chinese paper making reached the islamic world this allowed new and rediscovered texts to be transcribed so the work of hippocrates gallon and celsus was revived from this new medical texts were developed and written in the arab world razi wrote an encyclopedia about massage as well as exercise and diet to maintain health and well-being and the next great persian philosopher and physician abby cena wrote the canon of medicine promoting the use of medicine massage and exercise around 1450ad the gutenberg press made it possible to manufacture a large number of books for

4:37 really little cost this helps spread the knowledge of massage back through europe this brings us to the modern era from about 1450 to 2000 so around 100 years later ambrosius parray a french physician wrote about the use of massage for treatment after surgery and joint fractures for stiffness and in 1597 jerome jiro llamo mercury yeah that that seems right an italian physician wrote the art gymnastica which promoted the benefits of using massage and exercise and partnership in the same session in germany a physician named hoffman following the work of

5:24 hippocrates gallon and celsius used massage and exercise in his practice this influenced medical practices in germany france and england and in 1813 pierre henrik ling opened the swedish royal central institute for gymnastics where he taught swedish massage combined with active and passive exercises including frictions hacking pinching squeezing and kneading and by 1850 his teaching had spread to 38 schools throughout europe his ideas were ridiculed in the medical community however because he wasn't medically trained and he used mystic language however in holland dr johann mirzger gave credibility to ling's work in his scientific community and introduce terminology that we use today effleurage petrissage tap attainment so

6:10 merger was able to spread massage through the medical profession in germany and austria by 1956 ling's work was increasing in popularity in the united states and by 1880 medical research was being conducted in new york into the benefits of massage in response to the increasing credibility and popularity of massage numerous massage schools were establishing themselves in england the british medical association conducted a special inquiry into these schools due to the massage scandals of 1894. they found that massage schools were using questionable tactics to enroll students and the graduates were coming out unskilled and indebted and it was not uncommon for these schools to then employ the graduates to work as prostitutes this reinforced the link between massage and prostitution and at

6:57 this time terms such as masseuse and massage parlor became used as euphemism for prostitute and brothel the society of trained masseuses was formed in response to the massage scandals of 1894 and it was based off a medical model which included high academic standards and limited and regulated schools that taught massage massage continued to grow and in 1920 dr james menel divided massage's effects into mechanical actions such as the movement of blood and lymph and stretching of connective tissue and reflex actions where the stimulation of skin receptors can cause the muscle to contract or relax following on from this work emel vader a danish physiologist developed manual

7:42 lymphatic drainage and following research on over 20 000 patients the voda method of manual lymphatic drainage was accepted in the medical institutions in england dr james cyriacs developed transverse friction massage and in 1938 set up a department in saint thomas hospital in london dedicated to developing massage and manipulation during the world wars massage was used by the allies to help rehabilitate injured soldiers and was also popular with the nazis felix kirsten was a swedish trained massage therapist who used massage to treat the reich fuhrer ss himmler and he was so effective in his treatment that he was able to use his position to help many people escape nazi death camps massage's

8:29 popularity continued to grow and with greater communication worldwide many different forms of massage are spreading around the globe such as hot and cold stone massage indian head massage shiatsu and thai massage all being introduced to the western world which brings us to new zealand the cornerstones of maori healthcare were long herbal medicine spiritual healing and massage herbs or animal oils were used as lubricants and there were three forms of merib and takahi romeo romi was practiced daily by an elder woman and involved squeezing and pinching strokes tortor

9:15 was a form of infant massage to help with the infant's development for example it was common to massage the female's thumb backwards so they may have better and weave flex when they're older and finally takahe massage involves walking on parts of the body to relieve stiffness and it was thought that a person was born with a breech birth so feet first was destined to practice takahe in 1913 dunedin hospital established a massage department and the new zealand branch of the british medical association created a school in conjunction with otago university to train massage therapists then the masseuse registration act was created in 1920 for therapists who used massage medical gymnastics and electro therapy this act

10:03 was modified in 1949 to become the physiotherapy act and registration required 600 hours of training there is no longer any mandatory licensing or registration of massage therapists in new zealand so in 1985 bill wareham formed the massage institute of new zealand incorporated and in 1989 jim stanford created the therapeutic massage association and in april 2007 the tma and minzi merged for massage new zealand which is the official body of massage in new zealand so massage has a history of around 5000 years and its popularity has waxed and waned throughout that time but

10:48 has survived the dark ages and the massage scandals and is here to stay so hopefully through a combination of respecting traditions and growing with science massage can continue to enrich people's lives in the future you