Swedish Massage

History of Massage

For thousands of years some form of massage or laying on of hands has been used to sooth and heal the sick.
For the ancient Greek and Roman physicians, massage was one of the ways of healing and releiving pain.
In the early fifth century BC, Hippocrates the  “Father of Medicine” wrote ” The physican must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing…. For rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid”. He studied the effects of massage and concluded that massage in an upwards direction towards the heart is more beneficial.

Pliny the renowned roman naturalist, was regulary rubbed to relieve his asthma, also Julius Caesar, who suffered from epilepsy was daily pinched all over, to ease his neuralgia and headaches. After the fall of Rome in the fifth century AD, little progress was made in Europe as regards medicine, it was the Arabs who studied and developed the teachings. In the eleventh centuary it was an Arab philosopher and physician who discovered that the object of massage was “to disperse the waste matters found in the muscles and not expelled by exercise”.

During the middle ages, in Europe, little was heard of massage. In the sixteenth century it was revived through the work of a french doctor – Ambroise Pare. Then at the beginning of the nineteenth century a swede by the name of Per Henrik Ling developed what is now known as Swedish massage.

When muscle fibres are torn internal bruising occurs resulting in pain and possible swelling. When a muscle is stretched beyond its capacity it may respond by becoming tense and irritable and may develop an intensely tender “trigger point” which may radiate pain to other areas. This is called Myofascial pain. This may contribute to other soft tissue problems including repetitive strain injury.

Generalised muscle pain and stiffness occuring without an evident cause but with a characteristic pattern of tender spots is known as Fibromyalgia Syndrome formely called Fibrositis. Often affecting the neck and back it sometimes occurs with other conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, menstrual complaints, IBS, poor posture, tension and sleep disturbances may all be factors that contribute.

The word Holistic means to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms which may be present. The persons lifestyle, diet, exercise regime, sleep pattern and their health background are all taken into consideration.