healingways
T
he ancient healing practice
of massage therapy is playing The Evolution of Massage
an important role today in the
emerging golden age of complemen- Hands-On Healing Power Gains Momentum
tary and alternative medicine (CAM).
Surprisingly, it remains comparatively
by lee walker
underrepresented in U.S. medical
school curricula, while Massage
Today reports that “Insurance reim-
bursement for massage therapy is at
an all-time high.”
From the time that Hippocrates,
the father of modern medicine,
introduced the idea that a physician
should be experienced in rubbing,
massage therapy has moved in and
out of the traditional medical models
of various cultures. Current practi-
tioners attribute its staying power to
continued awareness of the inherent
healing and therapeutic value of mas-
sage, now the leading form of body-
work in the United States, according
to the American Massage Association.
Kneading, tapping and stroking,
the common ancestors of the 100-plus
techniques used by today’s massage
Swedish massage, generally gained in
Ancient Greeks and Romans
therapists, have survived two evolu-
acceptance. When, in 1884, skepti-
were keen on massage.
tionary spirals, but acceptance of mas-
cal British physicians alleged that its
sage as a prominent healing tool has
practitioners were stealing patients, Greek gymnasiums included
not followed an uninterrupted ascent.
the Incorporated Society of Trained
massage rooms, and the
Starting in 1800 B.C., when East
Masseuses formed to legitimize their
practice of massage appeared
Indian ayurvedic massage techniques
approach. They set about creating
were used to maintain mental health
regulations and establishing a clear in every country that was
and prevent disease, the development
practice model for physical rehabili-
part of the Roman Empire.
of related healing modalities, such as
tation; today the organization exists
Reiki, acupressure, Shiatsu, Canadian
as the Chartered Society of Physio-
by its members still reflect treatment
deep muscle massage, lomilomi and
therapy. Many of the techniques used
practices invented prior to the soci-
ety’s inception.
Since the 1970s, renewed interest
in hands-on methods of manipulat-
TELL US HOW
ing muscles and other soft tissues
has propelled the therapeutic use of
WE’RE DOING!
touch into its latest upward growth
spiral, freeing it from the gravitational
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from mainstream medicine in the
early 1930s. Now on an accelerated
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course, massage again has the oppor-
NaturalAwakeningsmag.com
tunity to assume a celebrated place
in the annals of medicine, just as it
did in 1936, when Dr. Thomas Lath-
rop Stedman included it as a “scien-
tific method” among therapeutics in
28 Phoenix
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