History of

Massage and
Reflexology

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HISTORY OF MASSAGE THERAPY

Massage may be the oldest and simplest form of medical care. Egyptian tomb paintings show
people being massaged. In Eastern cultures, massage has been practiced continually since
ancient times. A Chinese book from 2,700 B.C., The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal
Medicine, recommends 'breathing exercises, massage of skin and flesh, and exercises of hands
and feet" as the appropriate treatment for complete paralysis, chills, and fever." It was one of the
principal method of relieving pain for Greek and Roman physicians. Julius Caesar was said to
have been given a daily massage to treat neuralgia. "The Physician Must Be Experienced In Many
Things," wrote Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, in the 5th century B. C., "but
assuredly in rubbing... for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too
rigid."
Doctors such as Ambroise Pare, a 16th-century physician to the French court, praised massage
as a treatment for various ailments. Swedish massage, the method most familiar to Westerners,
was developed in the 19th century by a Swedish doctor, poet, and educator named Per Henrik
Ling. His system was based on a study of gymnastics & physiology, & on techniques borrowed
from China, Egypt & Greece. Physiotherapy, based on Ling's methods, was established with the
foundation in 1894 of the Society of Trained Masseurs. During World War I patients suffering from
nerve injury or shell shock were treated with massage. St. Thomas's Hospital, London, had a
department of massage until 1934. However, later breakthroughs in medical technology &
pharmacology eclipsed massage as physiotherapists began to favour electrical instruments over
manual methods of stimulating the tissues.
Massage is now used in intensive care units, for children, elderly people, babies in incubators, and
patients with cancer, AIDS, heart attacks, or strokes. Most American hospices have some kind of
bodywork therapy available, & it is offered in health centres, drug treatment clinics, and pain
clinics.
A variety of massage techniques have also been incorporated into several other complementary
therapies, such as aromatherapy, reflexology, Rolfing, Heller work, and osteopathy.

CHRONOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT OF MASSAGE THERAPY

3000 BC - Chinese: Cong-Fu of the Toa-Tse. Oldest book on massage translated into French in
1700s.
2760 BC - Nei Ching describes therapeutic touch
2500 BC - Egyptians created Reflexology

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2000 BC - First Writings about Massage

1800 BC - Ayurvedic. Art of Life book included massage techniques. In India, the focus was on
sensual massage aspects. Ayur-Veda is a code of life and it deals with rebirth, renunciation,
salvation, soul, and purpose of life, maintenance of mental health, prevention and treatment of
diseases.
1600 BC - in Egypt the first record of chemotherapy being employed as a treatment for cancer
1555 BC - A medical papyri contain remedies for all types of illnesses and the methods of
application are similar to the ones used in Aromatherapy and Herbal medicine today
1000 BC - Homer wrote about an oily medium used for massage
776 BC - Olympic Games. Athletes massaged prior to their events.
604-531 BC - The founder of Taoism is believed to be Lao-Tse
500 BC -Herodicus- prescribed gymnastics to heal, the founder of medical Gymnastics
460-380 BC- Hippocrates was taught by Herodicus.
dislocations (called anatripsis-Greek for friction).

Used Friction to treat sprains and

200 BC - Greek physician Galen used natural magnets to relieve pain in treating many illnesses
200 BC - The Huangdi Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) is the earliest surviving canonical
text of traditional Chinese medicine. Anmo is referred to in 30 different chapters of the Nei Jing.
100-44 BC - Romans. Julius Caesar used Massage therapy to relieve his neuralgia & epileptic
seizures
130-201 AD Galen, physician for the school of gladiators who were rubbed before fighting.
90 BC Chinese created Acupuncture.
25 BC- 50 AD - Aulus Cornelius Celsius. Roman Physician, wrote Materia Medica
100s AD First schools of massage were developed in china
228 AD-337 AD - Roman Emperor Constantine condemned the baths and gymnasiums
589 AD-617 AD - Sui Dynasty already had knowledge of Massage used as therapy
600 AD Japanese developed shiatsu (finger pressure or acupressure), anma is massage in
Japanese
980 AD-1037 AD - Avicenna, Persian medic, wrote the Canon of Medicine during the crusades

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1300 AD-1368 AD - Guy deChauliac wrote a book on surgery mentioning bodywork

1368 AD-1644 AD - In the Ming Dynasty, paediatric massage Tuina
1517 AD-1590 AD - Ambroise Pare, French barber surgeon, raised awareness of the use of
massage
1569 AD- Girolamo Mercuriale wrote the first sports medicine book.
1564 AD-1626 AD - Lord Francis Bacon observed that massage had benefits enhancing
circulation.
1608 AD-1679 AD - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli studied muscular contraction.
1660 AD-1742AD - Prussia.
rubbing

Friedrich Hoffman, physician to King of Prussia recommended

1742 AD-1823 AD - John Grosvenor, English surgeon practiced healing with hands.
1776 AD-1839 AD - Per Henrik Ling- gymnast studied massage after he cured himself of
1800 AD - Reiki is believed to date back to early Tibetan healing practices
1813 AD - Per Henrik Ling formed the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
His students carried on his work after his death.
1828 AD-1917 AD American osteopathic medicine was begun by Andrew Taylor Still.
1837 AD - Lings disciple, M. LeRon brought Movement Cure to Russia, St. Petersburg.
1839 AD-1909 AD - Johann Mezger. Holland. Brought medical massage to scientific community.
Started using the terms effleurage, petrissage and tapotement.

A HISTORY OF REFLEXOLOGY
THE FIRST REFLEXOLOGISTS

This wall painting is taken from the mastaba (early pyramid) of Ankhmahor, known as the
Physicians Tomb because of the number of such medically related paintings. Ankhmahor
was in fact the Pharaohs Vizier, second in rank to Pharaoh himself. The tomb dates from
2330 B.C.

The painting depicts what is believed to be the earliest example of foot and hand
reflexology. Dont hurt me, the patient says. The practitioners reply is I shall act so you
praise me.

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SIR HENRY HEAD

English neurologist, born August 4, 1861, London; died October 8, 1940.

His work was ground-breaking; he was at the forefront on the research into the nervous
system, as well as how it was affected by damage.

He described how segments of the skin (dermatomes) relay messages to the Central
Nervous System and internal organs

Discovered Heads Zones = DERMATOMES

SIR CHARLES SHERRINGTON (1861-1952)

In his work, "The Integrative Action of the Nervous System," for which he won the Nobel
Prize, he:

Established that nerves co-ordinate and control body functions.

Showed the process by which the brain, spinal cord and reflex pathways control the
activities of the body.

Showed that nerves were able to transmit signals around the body.

Developed the idea of proprioception.

DR WILLIAM FITZGERALD EARLY 1900S

Discovered (or "rediscovered") vertical zone therapy, which we recognise today.

Charted the ten longitudinal zones of the body

Experimented with pain relief and established that pressure applied to the body could have
an anaesthetic effect on other parts removed from the pressure site.

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FITZGERALDS VERTICAL ZONES

It can sometimes be impossible to treat directly an organ or area that has been damaged through
illness, infection or surgery. Reflexology and the zone theory enable us to carry out treatment
through an alternative body zone within either the same or another zone

Parallel body zones are separate parts of the body inter-linked through zones. They are mostly
effective in giving information about other zones, and they also make reciprocal treatment
possible. When one part of the body is injured, a parallel zone can be used to treat the whole
zone i.e. if there is tension in the shoulder reflex, you may also feel tension in the knee and hip, as
all are located in the fifth zone

1.

Zone therapy is a system connecting the different body sections using dividing lines
between the zones.

2.

Key points used in ancient and traditional methods are the head, hands and feet.
These are the poles and in between there is a system that can be further divided into polar
and parallel zones.

3.

There are ten equal energy zones in the body, which run vertically from the head to the toes
or to the fingers. Each finger or toe is a body exit (end point for an energy zone), which is
why there are ten energy zones!
Each toe or finger represents a three-dimensional section of the body, including inside, the
back and the front. A concentration or crystallisation of tension in any section will affect that
section along the full body length; like a blocked stream, it causes a state of surplus before
the blockage and a shortage immediately beyond it

Zone Therapy can change our understanding and treatment of the human body. Instead of
dividing the body into parts and organs and checking their injuries, we look at the entire body
including connections between different zones, thereby obtaining a detailed and complete picture
of the person.

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DR JOE SHELBY RILEY

Continued the zone work of Fitzgerald and was one of the first to make diagrams of reflex
points on the feet

Discovered eight horizontal zones (different from the horizontal zones used in Reflexology)
and ran a school that taught zone therapy.

Invented the technique known as "Hook Work" or "Hooking " and worked with reflex points
and zones of the ear (Auriculotherapy - one of the earliest Western recordings of this
theory)

EUNICE INGHAM

In the 1930's, Eunice Ingham, a therapist, further developed and refined the zone therapy
into what is now known as reflexology; invented the word Reflexology. The Ingham
method forms the basis for the way most reflexology is practised around the world today.
With this method,
pressure is applied by "thumb walking" in which the thumb (or finger) bends and straightens
whilst maintaining a constant pressure across the area of the foot being worked.

She moved away from working zones to working specific reflex points

She observed that congestion or tension in any part of the foot mirrors congestion or
tension in a corresponding part of the body.

She is known as the mother of Reflexology. Dwight Byers is her nephew & Reflexologist.

HANNE MARQUARDT

The first practitioner in Germany to work with pressure on the feet only (after training with
Eunice Ingham)

Credited with the concept of the transverse zones (two lines across the feet and one at
ankle, which divide the body into three areas)

Trained large number of medically qualified people as Reflexologists

DOREEN BAYLY

Is widely regarded as having introduced Reflexology into the United Kingdom in the early
1960s. She developed many foot charts, which are still used today.

FATHER JOSEPH EUGSTER

Developed the Rwo Shur method in Taiwan. This is a combination of thumb-sliding and
pressure techniques incorporating the knuckles and small, wooden sticks, although most
Rwo Shur practitioners no longer use wooden sticks. The pressure is very firm and the
therapist uses cream allowing a fast, efficient, flowing motion. A session usually lasts about
30 minutes with the focus being on stimulation rather than relaxation.
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