The history of massage is intricately tied to medical history, spiritual healing, and holistic healing. Over many thousands of years massage has been ‘discovered’, forgotten, renamed and rebranded, only to be rediscovered by different kinds of practitioners in a different location. Throughout the globe there are documented practices of people performing massage for the physical or spiritual benefit of someone else. Today, in Australia’s community there is contention about precisely what kind of medical benefits are linked to different kinds of massage. While we don’t offer any answers here, we will explore a little bit about the history of these claims.
Massage as a spiritual healing tool
More than 5000 years ago (that’s around 3000 BCE), Ayurveda practitioners used massage as a tool to help restore the body’s balance internally and with the external world. The goal was to restore this balance so that the body can heal itself from within. Ayurveda is still commonly practiced today and is regarded as a prominent alternative medicine; it is also regarded as a spiritual practice as there is a focus on spirits and energies that are not considered in western medicine. There are many concepts and practices that have not been transferred for use in western medicine. As with all beliefs and knowledge, over time some practitioners will adhere to and practice the purest possible form others will dilute it with other locally common practices to create a new form that is potentially more palatable to consumers in a particular geographic area. Often these diluted forms of Ayurveda are called “Modern Ayurveda” or “Global Ayurveda” and focus less on spiritual practices.
While the practice is likely very different from its inception 5000 years ago, massage is still a useful component when addressing complaints. Head and scalp, neck and shoulder massage can commonly be seen advertised and is often sought after as a quick remedy for some ailments such as pain, joint stiffness, and headaches.
It did not take long before massage was documented in other parts of the world. By 2700 BCE there were Chinese doctors using massage in combination with acupuncture, acupressure and herbal remedies. As well as Chinese medical treatment, this holistic care became a large part of martial arts and spiritual training of Buddhists and Taoists, among others.
Tomb paintings, dated to roughly 2500 BCE, proved that massage was being used in Egypt as well. The Egyptians had their own variation of the technique, now commonly known as reflexology. This practice involves applying pressure to the hands and feet in specific predetermined zones to address physical and spiritual ailments. Reflexology has carried through to today and is used throughout the world as an alternative medicine and spiritual practice.
Massage, specifically a version known as “Shiatsu”, was documented in Japan around 1000 BCE. This version of massage is similar to reflexology with the belief that stimulation of certain sites of the body would aid in the healing and rejuvenation of the body and ongoing treatment would help prevent future disease.
The next famously recognised documentation of massage occurred in ancient Rome and Greece. While there were still occasional references to spiritual benefits, for the most part, writings about this time focus on the physical outcomes of massage.
Massage as a physical healing tool
While massage was, and still is, used as a tool to correct spiritual or energy deficiencies, you cannot overlook that these doctors and healers also believed in the benefit of physical manipulation of the body.
Practices such as Reiki involve energy manipulation with the goal of spiritual and physical healing but the practice involves light, non-invasive touch (sometimes barely any touch, depending on the practitioner) that does little to manipulate the body’s tissue externally. Many believe that you can combine both practices, massage and reiki, to address multiple concerns, but they are offered as independent treatments to each other with a clear delineation between physical and spiritual benefit.
This focus on physical benefit alone was seeded by the Romans and Greeks anywhere between 500 – 300 BCE, but has continued on and strengthened through the centuries; setting a precedent for how massage is commonly practiced throughout Australia in the 21st century. This in itself is something worth marvelling at considering the time these original writings indicated massage used in this way. Both Claudius Galenus and Hippocrates, widely regarded as the beginnings of our current school of thinking in modern medicine, wrote extensively on the subject. It should be noted that massage in the Roman empire was used not just for the physical benefits but also as a status symbol. In the way that someone now may boast about being able to visit luxury spas or the ‘best’ professional, the Romans would use frequent massage as an ostentatious display of wealth.
Roman massage was closer akin to today’s physiotherapy, deep tissue, or sports massage than it was to relaxation massage. The purpose was to increase blood flow through the skin so that it was prepared to absorb the medicinal oils that would be applied. From there the body would be physically manipulated into often uncomfortable positions. The massage was forceful and intense, leaving the client red and possibly bruised.
For the lower classes, massage was performed in the bathhouses, often much less aggressive and less forceful.Spreading perfumed and medicinal oils across the body without the ‘luxurious’ bruising afterwards.
Massage continued to be practiced throughout the globe with waxing and waning popularity throughout the ages. In certain areas, massage disappeared from literature for several centuries. It is possible that it became such a common practice that no one thought it was worth writing about (after all, how often do you write about brushing your teeth, or cleaning your fingernails?) but more likely it fell out of common practice as a large portion of Europe experienced several population-decimating plagues; something not conducive to massage’s close quarters.
However, as superstition and memory of these traumatic events faded from the collective memories of these populations, massage and massage-like therapies would begin to resurface.
By the 1700’s surgeons in American were employing “Rubbers”. Almost exclusively women, these Rubbers were tasked with stimulating blood flow to the skin and deeper tissue to treat musculoskeletal injuries or ailments. This involved friction and deep pressure.
From this time, communication and travel across the globe was beginning to expand. Our transportation methods, while not as good as today, were growing and improving. This meant that therapies that were fine-tuned in isolation were now being drip-fed across the globe.
Pehr Henrik Ling, commonly known as “The Father of Swedish Massage” or “Father of Physical Therapy”, developed his own style of physical treatment. This treatment, called Medical Gymnastics, was secular in nature and was a system of full body exercises and treatments to promote good health and healing. The history and information on Pehr Henrik Ling is widely documented, partly due to the time in which he was developing his method but also in part because of the stage his work took.
We commonly refer now to the practice of Swedish Massage, a style of massage that involves, striking/cupping, stroking, pressing, and squeezing. However, whether massage played a large role in Ling’s physical treatments is a contentious point.
Dr Johann George Mezger is recognised as the person who documented, codified, and instructed on the specific style now known as Swedish Massage. Mezger used french terms, something which was becoming more well-known globally, to describe the specific movements involved. He instructed the ordered and specific use of Effleurage (stroking), Petrissage (kneading), Tapotement (striking), and Friction (rubbing). Something which had not been done as explicitly by Ling.
Regardless of the dispute over who precisely was the founder of the style, Swedish Massage is now used internationally and is regarded highly.
From the 1800’s masseurs began to offer ever-expanding treatment options. Some included sauna and spa, herbal treatments, body scrubs and wraps, and more. Massage was used by both upper and lower classes, the difference in how the treatment was performed, where it was performed, and by whom was the defining factor on whether it was a luxurious indulgence of the elite or simply a functional and affordable endeavour to manage pain and injury in the poorer neighbourhoods to keep the working class working.
Massage in the 21st Century
The advancement of travel options, communication tools, and information sharing has made the world of innovation much smaller. There are fewer places for ideologies, theories, principles, and methodologies to grow in seclusion. Now, people can fly from one side of the globe to the other to train in a particular modality, training and lectures can be given over the internet to students anywhere, and manuals and guide books can be accessed or posted to whomever has the money and the drive to learn.
This has meant that massage has exploded. No longer something for only the wealthy to receive, massage is common practice throughout Australia. Clients have a glut of options to choose from, with many knowing their preference on style and even massage therapist.
This boom has brought significant positive change to the trade, becoming it’s own industry. However, it is important to remember that, just as we look back on the massage being performed 5000 years ago, we will eventually be looking back on today’s practices too.
There are dozens of different styles of massage available to the public today, each with its own benefit. But what can massage therapists actually promise their clients when in comes to massage?
Relaxation Massage and Therapeutic or Remedial Massage are two distinct categories.
Relaxation massage can only promise the benefit of relaxation. This is not to say that there are no other possible benefits, just that this is the only outcome that masseurs can guarantee. Remedial massage is undertaken with the intent to target and correct an identifiable issue. Remedial massage therapists undertake extended training to understand the body’s physiology and how best to treatment injuries and ailments through physical manipulations. So while relaxation massage may help with pain, stiffness, joint trouble, and more, a relaxation therapist cannot promise or promote medical intervention from their treatment.
Relaxation massage for stress reduction is still a magnificent option and something which many Australians will incorporate into their own self-care and self-maintenance regime. Many assert that it provides them with a benefit to their mental health as well as physical boost.
The best way to understand which modality of massage, relaxation or remedial, is better for you is to experience both!
It is important to note, all the information about when and how massage treatments began is entirely reliant on written information, contemporary to the time. It is more that likely that these timelines are not straightforward. As with many things, humans often tend to discover various theories and methods simultaneously on opposite sides of the globe, unaware of the other. One thing that is abundantly clear is that massage has been millennia to help us relax, recover, and connect with each other.
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