‘Massage loosens a muscle that is tight and tightens a muscle that is loose.’ Hippocrates.

Massage is now regarded as a pleasurable experience and relaxing. Not many people regard massage as a treatment for excrutiating pain. And yet since Hippocrates time, massage was used to medically treat people. At the time of the first world war, nurses were trained in massage and would spend hours vigorously rubbing legs and arms after surgery to aid the healing process. Gymnasts were employed to teach stretches to get the muscles back to their correct length after surgery and to teach excercises to strengthen the muscles that were affected by surgery.

Because these treatments were time consuming, electrical equipment was designed to replace the work of nurses and gymnasts and so physiotherapy was born and massage went out of fashion.

Remedial massage (akin to sport’s massage) seeks to identify the muscles causing pain, apply massage to the specific muscles and use very gentle stretching techniques to increase flexibility.

(Therapuetic massage is the type of massage most people have had at a Beauty Salon and is very relaxing and will relieve tension that the therapist finds under her hands as she massages, it doesn’t necessarily identify the particular muscles causing the problems or apply specific stretches to address the problems.)

If you have any pain in the back, or legs or neck or shoulders you would be well advised to see a remedial massage therapist. If she/he cannot help you, she/he should be able to advise you of the therapist who could help.

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