May 26th, 2015 • Posted by The Little Day Spa • Permalink
From ancient Egypt to modern day
China, massage therapy has a rich history of offering healing benefits and
making a person feel pampered. It is hard to ascertain exactly how far back massage as a healing therapy
dates, because it seems to have been in existence before written records came
into being.
The Tomb of the Physician in Saqqara, Egypt dates back to about 2330 BC. Among
the drawings in this tomb are images of men having work done on their hands and
feet, which could presumably be a form of massage or reflexology. Most scholars
agree that massage as a healing art dates back to ancient times and runs
through cultures across the globe.
According to The History of Massage: An Illustrated Survey from around the
World by Robert Noah Calvert, Chinese texts dating back to 2700 BC have been
discovered that extol the health benefits of massage. Massage is mentioned in
the Bible in reference to using olive oil and myrrh for daily massage, it was
used by Roman physicians in 150 BC to treat injury and disease, and in medieval
times European doctors taught about the health benefits of massage.
Make no mistake that while massage has been seen as physically beneficial for
thousands of years, it has also been used by the wealthy and famous as a way to
relax and feel pampered. In ancient Rome, private physicians, such as Galen,
visited the homes of emperors and the wealthy and performed massages as a
luxury and for the health benefits. While massage fell out of popularity for a
while, it never completely disappeared from mankind's history.
The tradition that the Romans started--bathing and then massage-saw resurgence
in the United States the mid-1800s to early 1900s, when many of the wealthiest
families from around the world visited mineral springs and enjoyed the health
benefits of bathing in minerals combined with the luxury of a therapeutic
massage to follow. This is sometimes called the Golden Age of massage.
Massage fell out of favor again for a number of years in the middle part of the
20th century, but was still used at spas and to treat World War II patients who
had suffered nerve injury. Although the practice seemed to lay somewhat
dormant, it was during this time that massage practitioners experimented with
different types of massage and created a few new twists on old rituals.
Today, massage is enjoyed by people from all walks of life for a variety of
reasons. Athletes turn to massage to ease sore muscles and injuries. If the
1800s and early 1900s were the Golden Age of massage, then we have moved into a
new, colorful age that offers a kaleidoscope of massage styles and purposes for
the art. Athletes like Lebron James have their own personal massage therapists,
movie stars get massages before red carpet events, and ordinary people get
massages help promote physical well-being, calm their emotions and improve the
quality of their lives.