Today's generation is based on health and well-being. Millions of dollars are spent annually on fitness programs and exercise equipment. In the midst of the universal health care trend, gym gurus alongside ordinary people around the world are making massage therapy a part of their regular health care regimens. While the vast majority of diets and exercise equipment are forsaken, hospitals and nursing homes are integrating massage therapy into the daily treatment of patients. What is it about massage therapy that differentiates it from the Slim Fast plan and the Total Gym? Massage therapy is actually a practical area of study that provides many unparalleled benefits for the human body.
Although massage therapy is often stereotyped as a new-age component of health care, human touch is probably the oldest known healing tradition. The ancient peoples of China, Greece, Egypt, and India relied on basic massage to relieve almost any medical condition from which they were suffering. As early as 2700 BC, the Chinese text, The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, recommended that "breathing exercises, massage of the skin and flesh, and exercises of the hands and feet" should be used to treat paralysis, chills, and fever ("Massage Therapy" 1). In 2500 BC, physicians in Egypt created the earliest form of reflexology, a popular form of massage that uses deep pressure on the hands and feet ("History Modalities" 1). Around 776 BC, the first sports massages were given in the famed Olympic Games when athletes were massaged prior to their events ("History Modalities" 2). In addition, the Greek physician Hippocrates practiced around 400 BC and was a fervent believer in the healing power of massage. Known as the father of Western medicine, he used vigorous friction on the muscles to treat sprains and dislocations from sports or war injuries ("Massage Therapy" 1). When commenting on medicine and healing, Hippocrates wrote, "The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing- ("History").