History of Massage

Find out more with The History of Massage: An Illustrated Survey from Around the World by Robert Noah Calvert. Calvert, founder of Massage Magazine, provides a comprehensive massage history that spans the globe. This book is probably the most definitive and well-reasearched work you'll find about massage history.

We do know that massage is an ancient practice:

• Hippocrates, the father of medicine, wrote "The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly also in rubbing; for things that have the same name have not always the same effects. For rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose and loosen a joint that is too rigid..."

• In Egypt, tomb paintings show images of people being massaged.

• Massage is part of Ayurveda, the traditional medical practice of India.

• Julius Caesar is said to have received daily massage to treat neuralgia.

• The oldest know book about massage, written in China around 3000 BC, is Cong-Fu of the Toa-Tse.

As with many ancient practices, it fell out of favor for some time, but then made a comeback in the 19th and 20th centuries. Here are some historical massage documents available online:

The Art of Massage, written by J. H. Kellogg, M.D. in 1895.

Massage And The Original Swedish Movements: Their Application To Various Diseases Of The Body by Kurre W. Ostrom, published in 1918.



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