MASSAGE AS A HEALING TOOL
In reserch we find that manual therapy was the oldest type of curing method ever used. It is undeniable that massage has always been a healing process. The first documented evidence about the benefits from massage therapy was found in Chinese writings about 3,000 years ago .Other ancient evidence is seen in the writings of the Hindus, Egyptians and Persians, proving that they are used forms of manual massage.
The word Massage has various roots. In Arabic"mass" = touch or feel. In Greek "massein"= knead or rub. Both cultures still maintain massage as an important branch of therapy. The father of medicine Hippocrates of Cos (460 to 380 BC), wrote in his memoirs that phisicians must be experienced in many things, but most assuredy in the art of rubbing.
Doctors such as Ambroise Pare, a French physician in the 16th century, praised massage as a treatment for various ailments. In 1813, Swede, Pehr Heinrick Ling used massage as a manual therapy for athletes, specifically gymnasts, leading to his development and reseach into soft tissue. Ling is credited as the founder of the "Swedish Massage."
In the twenty-first century, a period of scientific research, where medicine is the paragon, evidence by noted psychiatrist Dr. James Gordon reported that "The Massage is a Medicament." Currently there is increased growth and interest in contact therapy.This trend has led to the creation of institutions that are dedicated to investigate this area. One such institution is the Touch Research Institute (TRI), in Miami, that has been researching contact massage since 1982. Dr. Tiffany Field's reseach established that massage, when used properly, is a powerful therapeutic tool.
Today, there is overwhelming evidence proving that massage works as therapy for various medical conditions and ailments. Therapists are well trained in the workings of the body. Having confidence in the massage method for therapy is important in the effectivenessof the treatment.
To understand the effects of therapeutic massage from the concept of the school of Hipocratica Grega: Vis Medicatrix Naturae; This refers to the capacity of an innate organism for healing itself. The hypothesis is not that massage cures diseases, rather that it stimulates the natural mechanisms of the body to accelerate the healing process.
The art of the massage healing process starts with the effects of applying a phyical phenomenom to the tissue, with the second step of transmitting a reflex to the neurons and stimulating receptors cutaneous that are located in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, that further stimulate and activate the proprioceptor located in the walls of the circulatory system.
Stimuli are sent by impulses to the central nervous system reaching different area of the spinal cord, hemispheres and cerabral cortex. All these mechanisms cause functional changes to the organism helping to restore the body's well-being.