The Birth of Classical Massage:Swedish MassageClassical massage originated in the late 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. It was the springboard for what we call Swedish massage. All methodologies, modalities, and techniques still used today with Swedish massage were the offspring of the classical massage practiced and perfected back then. The two founders of the original Swedish massage were Pehr Henrik Ling and Johann Mezger.
Pehr Henrik Ling (1776-1839) developed 4 systems of movement for the foundation of Swedish massage. Ling’s medical gymnastics emphasized active and passive movements. The passive movements were described as shaking, hacking, pressing, stroking, pinching, kneading, clapping, vibrating, and rolling. Ling believed that oil should be used to decrease skin friction. The diseases and illnesses reportedly treated by Ling’s methods were head congestion, asthma, emphysema, constipation, incontinence, hernia, epilepsy, neuralgic pain, and paralysis. Ling taught his active and passive movements to restore health and balance to the body. This was the basis of Swedish massage still used today.
Johann Mezger (1838-1909) also believed in passive movements to improve health. Mezger was the first to categorize soft-tissue manipulation into effleurage (stroking), pe’trissage (kneading), friction (rubbing), and tapotement (tapping). Mezger’s general categories of movements are also the foundation of today’s Swedish massage.
In 1854 two brothers brought Swedish massage to the United States. Dr. George Taylor and Dr. Charles Taylor previously studied in Sweden. The Swedish massage technique became defined as the manipulation of soft tissues for therapeutic purposes both physical and psychological. This manipulation was said to affect skin, nerves, blood and lymph vessels, muscles, and some internal organs.
Swedish massage became popular between 1920 and 1950, and included massage, Swedish movements, hydrotherapy, heat lamps, diathermy, and colonic irrigation. Most practitioners worked at Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), hospitals, resorts, private health clubs, or with professional sports teams.
There was a decline of Swedish massage in the 1940’s to the 1950’s due to the fact that “massage parlors” were often used as a cover for prostitution. The biggest contributor to the decline of Swedish massage was other interventions taking its place, such as biomedicine and technology that physicians were influenced by starting in the 1900’s.
In the 1960’s a new movement emerged, and young people rejected the conservative views of their elders. A renewed interest in massage came about, based mostly on classical western massage. Professionals began to reevaluate the therapeutic value of methods of touch, including Swedish massage.
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