A brief History
Massage derives from the Arabic meaning “Stroke” and is an extremely old therapy and is known to predate recorded history. The oldest reference is found in the Cong-Fu of the Toa-Tse from about 3,000 BC.
The next reference is from around 2,700 BC can be found in The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, where it recommends 'breathing exercises, massage of skin and flesh, and exercises of hands and feet" as the appropriate treatment for -complete paralysis, chills, and fever."
There are many other references to massage from the ancient Egyptians around 2500 BC and from India in about 1800 BC where it talks about the Ayurvedic traditions. There are mentions in various texts spanning the rest of our recorded history; 1000 BC Homer, 400BC Hippocrates, 200BC Galen to mention a few. However, the first known school of massage wasn’t until about 100AD in China. In terms of the Modern age Avicenna around 1000AD, 1569 AD Girolamo Mercuriale wrote the first sports medicine book. However deep tissue massage was not known as an individual technique until the mid to late 1800’s where it was developed in Canada, since then as science has expanded more and more specialised techniques have arisen.
Girolamo Mercuriale
The treatment itself
Deep Tissue Massage is a massage technique that focuses on the deeper layers of muscle tissue, working right down to the bone. It aims to release the chronic patterns of tension in the body through slow strokes and deep finger pressure on the contracted areas, either following or going across the fibres of the muscles, tendons and fascia. This style is not for everyone for although it is extremely beneficial it uses a great deal of pressure, especially on the larger muscles of the body, as it needs to, to penetrate right down. So as a consequence some clients can feel a level of therapeutic discomfort for up to 48 hours following a treatment, after this the true benefits will show themselves. The reason for this discomfort is the build up of Lactic acid, which the body uses to promote healthy cell growth, drinking a lot of water can help to flush this from the body.
If you’re looking for massage therapies or a massage therapist in the Hills, visit Winston Hills Herbal & Massage Centre.
We offer our massage therapies to the Hills areas: Winston Hills, Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Northmead and Parramatta. Source: innerlibrary