I tend to view massage therapy independently of broader
categories of therapy, healing or other restorative practices
or systems. I am inclined to do this because I am cautious
about allowing massage to be classified as a traditional
therapy versus an alternative therapy.

There are many practitioners who cringe when they see massage
therapy lumped in with "alternative" practices such as acupuncture, chiropractic or naturopathic health. To some these smack of quackery, fakery or, in some cases, lunacy. I believe that this aversion to association with alternative medical practices is extreme but I concede that a massage therapy purist could develop such a phobia.

On the other hand, more open-minded massage therapists abhor
associating massage exclusively with clinical practices such as
physical therapy or other forms of rehabilitation. There is some
resentment towards the incorporation of massage therapy into
traditional medicine only because they feel that massage may be
viewed as simply a procedure. This view strikes me as a bit
vindictive but given the historical view of the mainstream medical
industry towards the alternative medical community, some
bitterness can be expected.

I would hate to see massage go the way of today's politics
which attempt to label every political view as either liberal or
conservative. Massage therapy is neither traditional nor
alternative. Frankly, traditional medicine is, in actuality,
an "alternative" to massage when viewed in an historical
context.

The first documented description of massage as a technique or
therapy dates back to 3,000 B.C. in China. The Chinese
believed that all illness was due to an imbalance of "Qi" within the
body. The inequitable distribution of this "life force" or "life energy" was blamed for all ailments and this philosophy was absorbed and incorporated by Japanese Buddhist monks into Japanese massage techniques. This eventually evolved into the unique Japanese massage therapy called Shiatsu or "finger pressure."

At the same time, similar approaches were evolving in India,
eventually becoming the practice of Ayurvedic medicine, or
the "arts of life," which also utilized massage as an
instrumental healing methodology. Greeks, Romans and even
Native Americans highly valued not just the therapeutic, but
also the actual healing value of massage. Hippocrates himself
is quoted as stating that "anyone wishing to study medicine
must master the art of massage."

But with the advent of the industrial age and the development
of modern scientific inquiry, massage was relegated to the list
of unenlightened, unsophisticated medical practices. In my
opinion, however, to dismiss the medicinal and restorative
benefits of massage was to dismiss the wisdom of the Ancients.
The lack of modern scientific diagnostic techniques and the
inability to examine the physical being at the cellular level, forced
the earliest physicians to take a macro view of the person since
a micro view was unavailable. That macro view and the knowledge
garnered through the ages is still the essence of the practice of
the ancient art of massage.

That is not to say that the more clinical modern approach to
massage is without merit. On the contrary, contemporary
research has validated many of the formerly unsubstantiated
claims of alternative practitioners. Scientific studies have
confirmed the effectiveness of massage in alleviating some
depressive symptoms, altering the immune system,
controlling pain and reducing stress. As stress is identified
as the precipitator of so many medical problems, physicians
are less reluctant to recommend massage as part of an
overall regime to address certain conditions.

So I echo the plea of Rodney King when he asked, "Can't we
all just get along?" Massage does not need the blessing of the
medical establishment to claim its place among the healing arts,
thank you. Nor is it the exclusive therapeutic domain of the
alternative community. I am comfortable with claims that
massage can benefit the whole person and I welcome the
recognition of the scientific examiners who methodically study
the benefits of touch for healing. But I intend to plant myself
firmly in the middle and surrender to no particular ideology of
massage therapy. I endorse massage for what it does.







Article written by Terry McDermott.











Author Bio::

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Terry McDermott


liberal


political discussion forum


email: simi_hogard@yahoo.com