Massage Therapy, One of the Earliest Forms of Medicine!

I work with people on a consistent basis who endure both acute and chronic pain. Most of these people are desperate for relief. As a body work therapist, I can honestly say that I love being a part of their healing progress  and seeing their pain decrease naturally though massage therapy. Massage the earliest forms of medicine, according to the Greek Doctor of Medicine Hippocrates,(460 BCE - 37) he also included, the practice of massage as a therapeutic modality. Hippocrates, known as the "Father of Medicine," emphasized the importance of massage in maintaining or acquiring health. He categorized massage into various types with distinct goals, such as sports massage, to keep athletes in top condition, and to cure a broad range of ailments. Hippocrates also expanded on the practice of massage, specifying that it should be given with strokes mainly towards the heart, stimulating the heart and circulatory system, and aiding in transporting waste products out of the body. For example, vigorous massage constricts and firms up the body. Gentle massage relaxes the body.Much massage thins and lightens the body. Moderate massage thickens the body, and increases the flesh.The body and its muscles react similarly in kind to vigorous massage by firming up and increasing their tone. Laxness and atony are low energy states; vigorous massage stimulates, putting a lot of heat and energy back into the organism.  Vigorous friction and massage are also great ways to warm up a body that is too cold. The body and its muscles also react similarly in kind to gentle massage by loosening up and letting go of pent up stress and tension.  This dispersal of energy leads to a cooling or sedating effect. For further information about Hippocrates beliefs on massage and medicine. 

Reference 

Greek Medicine. Osbourne, D(2007)cited in Greek Medicine: MASSAGE AND BODYWORKHippocrates.(2026) cited in Hippocrates - Wikipedia Father of Medicine. Found in Remote Egyptian Monastery"  Gibbons, S. (2017). Cited in       https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/hippocrates-manuscript-sinai-palimpsests-st-catherines-monastery-spd