Massage Therapy

Massage therapy has been used for thousands of years as a form of medical care, the earliest time of use dates back to 2,700 BC from a Chinese book called “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine”. The Chinese used this form of treatment for a person with full paralysis or an illness from fever and chills. History shows that Greek and Roman doctors also used massage therapy, as Julius Caesar had a disease called neuralgia and used massages on a daily basis to treat his condition. Hippocrates who was known as the Father of Western Medicine felt that massage therapy was effective, as it could loosen or bind a problematic joint. Massage therapy is also found in the history of Indian Medicine as the Indians used and still use therapeutic massage with spices and aromatic oils (“HowToMassage.org”).

Per Henrik Ling developed a massage known as the Swedish massage which was launched in the United States during the 1850s and at this time the nation’s first massage therapy clinic opened to the public. World War I was also a part of massage history as servicemen who experienced shell shock or nerve injury were many times given treatment in the form of massage therapy (“HowToMassage.org”). In the early twentieth century, massage therapy was placed on the back burner from the rise of technology and prescription drug use, with only a few therapists using this so-called ancient technique. However, in the 1970s, people began to search for other methods of treatment other than drug use and massage therapy was a perfect alternative. Currently, there are more than one-hundred and twenty-five thousand massage therapists active in the United States with the numbers still on the rise from the rising demand for massage therapy (“Univ...

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...que, and if it is actually more cost effective than other types of treatment. The practice of massage is usually in the community by private practitioners; however it is gradually being incorporated into a range of health care settings, including hospice care facilities and hospitals ("University of Maryland Medical Center").

Works Cited

• "Massage." University of Maryland Medical Center. University of Maryland Medical System, Web. 14 Apr 2011. .

• "Massage Therapy: An Introduction." National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. National Institutes of Health, 24 Mar 2011. Web. 14 Apr 2011. .

• "The History of Massage Therapy." HowToMassage.org. Web. 14 Apr 2011. .