Mar 19, 2012 Massage Therapy
Massage is rapidly growing in popularity. In the past 10 years, the need for qualified massage therapists has increased substantially. It is no longer the sole revue of massage parlors or wealthy spas. You now can find massage as part of an integrated medical system of treatment. You can see it in ICUs for babies, children and elderly people. Massage is part of out care and in-house therapy as well as medical management for people with HIV-AIDS and cancer.
Massage now forms a small but significant part of many different types of health care facilities. Hospices, health care centers, and various types of medical and therapeutic clinics include some form of massage as part of a recognized form of treatment. In the sporting arena, massage is also a prominent fixture, making its appearance at the Olympics. Massage is also an accepted part of athletic training at all levels of sport.
Yet, what exactly is massage? There is actually no simple single definition. In fact the term has varied somewhat over time. In 1886, for example, Thomas’s Medical Dictionary of 1886 simply stated: "Massage, from the Greek, meaning to knead. Signifying the act of shampooing."
A few years later, the definition became a little more involved. In A Text-book of Mechano-Therapy (1904), Doctor Axel V. Grafstrom declared, "By massage, we understand a series of passive movements on the patient’s body, performed by the operator for the purpose of aiding nature to restore health. These passive movements are friction, kneading, percussion, stretching, pressure, vibration, and stroking."
The definition for much of the 20th century continued in this fashion. A standard dictionary from the 1970s defines massage as a “manual or mechanic manipulation of parts of the body as through rubbing, kneading, slapping or the like, used to promote circulation, relax muscles, etc.”
Online, the Encarta Dictionary defines massage as “a treatment that involves rubbing or kneading the muscles, either for medical or therapeutic purposes or simply as an aid to relaxation.”
There are other ways to characterize it. Some separate massage according to method or type. Some see it as traditional others look at it as modern. There are Western and Oriental or Asian versions.
In fact, massage has many types. It is not a solitary definitive action or typology. Yet, you can provide some basic parameters and, therefore, set forth a basic definition. Essentially, massage is the use of touch given by one person to another. Using manual techniques based on an ancient and/or modern system of treatment, the practitioner kneads, rubs, strokes, and compresses or otherwise manipulates the flesh. At its most common, massage induces pleasure. This is true of sensual or sexual massage. At its most powerful, massage is a tool for removal or reduction of stress as well as for pain relief, injury rehabilitation, health improvement, increased awareness and/or athletic preparedness or recovery.
Although still in some instances a “naughty” skill or art, massage has become what it was once in the antique past, a medical, emotional and psychological treatment. When you abandon the pure pleasures of the flesh in implementing massage, you are entering the realm of massage therapy. Massage therapy is a specific application of massage. Its purpose is to help the client recover from illness or injury or, as in the case of sports massage therapy, act as a preventative measure.
As a curative, therapeutic, enabling or preventative form of medical treatment, massage therapy may act alone or become part of a system of treatment. It may complement other traditional or alternative therapies. In doing so, it becomes part of a larger and often intricate approach to healing referred to as CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine).
The following pages will guide you through the field of Massage Therapy. It will examine the purposes, benefits, training, types and terminology. It will consider the various approaches and techniques they use. From aromatherapy massage to Trigger Point Massage, this e-book will consider and discuss massage therapy and all its aspects.