The History and Meaning of Massage

Massage is an ancient practice that has been renewed and reused in the modern age.

Over 3000 years ago, Eastern civilisations such as Hindu Ayurvedic traditions used massage as part of an holistic system of healing. Ancient Chinese medical philosophy also espoused touch as essential to spiritual and physical health.

These practices acknowledged the importance of stroking, touching and massaging the skin and muscles. Ancient Egyptian culture used massage, particularly reflexology, for relaxation. Later in history and in the West, around the 1700’s, records of ‘rubbers’ show that female massage therapists were employed by surgeons to help in the rehabilitation of patients.

Eventually, what we understand today to be Swedish massage – that is, the various movements of effleurage (wide, sweeping strokes) and petrissage (deeper muscle massage), etc., was developed by gymnastic physiologists such as Pehr Henrik Ling and Johann Georg Mezger. Massage therapists’ clinical practice is still often made up as these types of movements.

This brief history demonstrates how valuable human touch is to health and well-being. Even the concept of ‘laying on of hands’ in Abrahamic religions such as Judaism presents the idea that humans communicate significantly via touch; be it a blessing, rehabilitation or soothing the nervous system.

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