Massage was found to have evolved over 5000 years ago. Evidence can be found in Greek, Roman and Chinese historical records. Massage was performed by the accent equivalent to modern doctors.
Massage was found to have healing benefits to help relieve pain, heal injuries, cure and prevent illnesses as well as to help induce deep relaxation and help to reduce stress.
It was the Ancient Greeks, who had a strong sense of physical culture and it was no surprise massage was a common practice to decrease 'knots' by rubbing the muscle tissue. These techniques were very similar to the modern-day techniques which are now used by Sports Massage Therapists.
The Medical Pioneer Hippocrates recognised the effects of massage and prescribed treatments in the form of 'rubbing and frictioning' the muscles to aid healing. Hippocrates research was more common with Holistic medicine and promoted well-being by encouraging, exercise, a good diet, sleep and music.
Modern-day Massage as we know it today was developed in the 19th Century by Per Henril Ling, who developed the massage techniques and created Swedish/Holistic Massage.
Over the years Scientific knowledge has increased to understand the body's response to massage, but massage as an applied healing technique has not changed dramatically as we have not physically changed much since the Ancient Greeks & Egyptians.
As Massage can treat the most common types of pain with the most natural form of medicine (human touch) for as long as people are prone to discomfort or illness, massage will always exist as a healing practise.