1800’s-Reiki is believed to date back to early Tibetan healing practices. Discovered in the 1800’s by a Japanese philosopher and Christian seminary educator, Dr. Mikao Usui
1804 – The Elements of Kellgrens’ Manual Therapy by James Cryax reports that First historical record of Per Henrik Lings (1776- 1839) was in 1804.
THE ELEMENTS OF KELLGREN’S MANUAL TREATMENT EDGAR F. CYEIAX M.D.Edmburgh, 1001 ; Gymnastic Director, StocMiolm, 1899 NEW YORK WILLIAM WOOD AND COMPANY Google Books –– PDF, text, and other versions Archive.org (PDF)
“In that year Ling was back in Sweden, and in the town of Lund was established as an instructor in the arts of fencing and gymnastics. While on the Continent he had been compelled in consequence of pecuniary difficulties to undergo many hardships and privations, resulting in serious damage to his health ; at the time already referred to his constitution was much impaired, and he was a constant martyr to rheumatism. Bodily ailments did not, however, keep him from pursuing an active life, and his reputation as a master of fencing and gymnastics developed into considerable fame. The movements and exercise necessitated by his daily work soon proved of great benefit to his physical condition, and shortly after his appointment in 1805 as fencing master to the University of Lund, Ling found that his rheumatism had disappeared, and that he had regained his former strength and vigour. These facts turned his thoughts in a new direction. What had been of benefit to himself might also be of benefit to others, and he came to the conclusion that it ought to be possible to devise various movements with different physiological effects for the treatment of various ailments. He likewise argued that a further series of movements could be contrived which would tend not only to keep healthy persons in that condition, but also to strengthen them by developing their bodies equally in all directions.” ~Elements of Kellgrens’ Manual Therapy by James Cryax
1808 – JOHN BARCLAY (10 December 1758 – 21 August 1826) WROTE “The Muscular Motion of the Human Body (Google Books) “in which he relates a case of muscular contraction cured by percussion alone. In 1804, Barclay was formally recognized as a lecturer on anatomy and surgery by the Edinburgh College of Surgeons, and in 1806 he became a fellow of the Edinburgh College of Physicians
1813– Per Henrik Ling formed the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. His students carried on his work after his death. Per Ling is NOT the father/creator of Swedish Massage or of the Swedish Movement Cure.
On Per Henrik Ling, According to Douglas Graham in his Treatise on Massage.:
Some regarded him as the inventor of this system of treating certain maladies, while others considered that he only made rational that which had been in use for many centuries amongst the Chinese and other eastern nations. · The latter is doubtless the more correct views, for one of his disciples states that Ling thought, like his predecessors, not of merely imitating the gymnastic treatment of the ancients, but he aimed at its reformation and improvement. But the former view served a useful purpose in stirring up the critics and opponents of Ling’s method who adduced testimony to show that the method of Ling is that of the Brahmins of India ; is that of the Egyptian priests ; is that of Asclepiades, of Pythagoras, and of Herodicus; is that of which Hippocrates, Celsus, Galen, Rufus of Ephesus and other physicians, Greek and Roman, have preserved fragments for and that all the movements which Ling has indicated are described in an ancient book of the Chinese called the Cong Fou of the Tao- Ssé.
1828-1917– American osteopathic medicine was begun by Andrew Taylor Still. For more information see www.meridianinstitute.com in their early manual medicine collection.
1819 – Illustrations of the power of compression and percussion in the cure of rheumatism, gout, and debility of the extremities, and in promoting health and longevity by Balfour, William. Archive.org
“Dr. Balfour claimed for him self the originality accredited to Professor Grosvenor by his friends — that of discovering a new method of treatment with out inquiring if there were any previous data to start from.”
The means adapted to these ends—the means of promoting circulation, and of preserving health to the diseased, the infirm, and the aged, are percussion and compression. By the former, the circulation is promoted, not only in parts affected with disease, but in the whole body; by the latter, vessels weakened by disease, or by age, are supported. This is not a speculative opinion, which may he right or wrong. It can he put to the test of experience by man, woman, or child, and its truth appreciated in five minutes. If a person sits in a cold room till his feet and legs become cold and benumbed, and a chilliness pervades the whole surface of the body, the application of percussion will produce a glow of warmth over all the parts, equal to that produced by walking. When the blood has been repelled by cold from the surface of the body to the internal parts, it can he brought hack again to the surface by percussion: For wherever a stimulus is applied, to that part there is an afflux of blood; so that the equability of the circulation may be preserved in the sedentary, the diseased, the infirm, and the aged, in a degree highly conducive to health and longevity.
1825 – A Full Account of the System of Friction As Adopted and Pursued with the Greatest Success in Cases of Contracted Joints and Lameness, from Various CausesBy John Grosvenor, William Cleoburey. Link to Google Books
The friction was at first continued for one hour daily, (more or less, as the case would admit) and gradually increased till the patient could bear it to be rubbed an hour at a time three hours in the day, observing always to rub by the watch.
A Practical Treatise on Massage by Douglas Graham states:
A Practical Treatise on Massage Its History, Mode of Application, and Effects, Indications and Contra-indications; with Results in Over Fourteen Hundred CasesBy Douglas Graham · 1884 Google Books)
“ In the latter period of his practice, Mr. Grosvenor rendered himself celebrated throughout the kingdom by the application of friction to lameness or imperfections of motion arising from stiff or diseased joints. He had first used it with success in a complaint of his own, a morbid affection of the knee, and by degrees its efficacy was so acknowledged that he was visited by patients from the most distant parts, of the highest rank and respectability, among others by Mr. Hey, the able surgeon of Leeds. Those who were benefited by the process pursued under his own immediate superintendence in cases of this sort, and from total inability have been restored to a free use of their limbs, were best able to attest his merits. That he was scarcely in any instance known to fail, was perhaps attributable to the circumstance that he used his utmost efforts to dissuade from coming to Oxford every one of whose case, from previous communications, he entertained any doubt. Possessed at this time of affluence, he became very indifferent about business, and at a time of life when he was still capable of active exertions and his strength was but little impaired, he began to contract his practice. For the last ten years of his life he had wholly given up his profession , except in the instances of his patients requiring friction .” Mr. Grosvenor considered friction highly improper in all cases of inflammation , in scrofulous cases tending to suppuration, in cases of inflammatory gout and rheumatism, and useless in cases of true anchylosis. The cases in which he found this remedy most serviceable were contractions of the joints attended with languid circulation and thickening of the ligaments, in those cases in which there is too great secretion of the synovial fluid in the joints, after wounds in ligamentous, tendinous, or muscular parts when the function of the limb is impaired, in cases of paralysis, in cases of chorea combined with attention to the system , after violent strains of the joints , in incipient cases of white swelling, after fractures of the articulating extremities of the joints when stiffness remains after union, in cases of dislocation of the joint when the motion is impaired some time after reduction, and in weakly people where the circulation is languid. The observations of Mr. Grosvenor have been, in the main, confirmed by others, most of whom evidently consider their own experience unique and unprecedented .
1837 – Ling’s disciple, M. LeRon brought Movement Cure to Russia, St. Petersburg.
1847 – In France, Swedish gymnastics was ‘‘officially’’ introduced in 1847
by the publication Kine´sithe´rapie ou Traitement des Maladies par le
Mouvement, which was written by Carl August Georgii (1808–
81).20 As an ambassador from Hjalmar Ling (1820–86), the son of
Per Henrik Ling, who was then head of the Swedish National
School for Gymnastics, Georgii used his book to present all of the
‘‘innovations’’ of Ling’s method – for example, the passive movements ‘‘like pressure, frictions, percussions, massage . . . ligatures,
movements or attitudes.’ The Rise of Massage and Medical Gymnastics
in London and Paris before the First World War (PDF, Université de Lausanne)by Gregory Quin.
1839-1909 – Johann Mezger. Holland. Brought medical massage to scientific community. Started using the terms effleurage, petrissage and tapotement.
The too great importance attached at present to massage is due, however, not to the direct influence of Swedish gymnastics, but originates in France, and it has found in Dr. J. Mezger, of Amsterdam, an exceptionally expert advocate. Incited by his success. Professor Mosengeil’ published a detailed description of the manipulations which are performed in this process. These latter are divided into four classes: effleurage, massage a friction, petrissage, and tapotement. The parts of the body to be massaged must be so situated as to be within reach of manual operation ;a deeply seated part, such as the hip-joint for instance, cannot be effectually massaged. The part must be first washed with cold water, then the masseur anoints his hands with any substance that facilitates their gliding easily over the surface of the skin. Such substances are : olive oil, animal fat, especially in the form of the universally known cold cream, vaseline, black soap, or a special liniment, which is more often used in France, and which consists of—
Camphor . . .10 parts
Laudanum . . . 10
Oil . . . . 60 „
If the part to be operated upon be very hairy it must be shaved, otherwise even with mild massage severe pains and possibly inflammation may ensue. The rubber begins with efleurage—i.e. with centripetal strokes which are conducted with the full surface of each hand alternately over the desired part of the body. The strokings, at first slight, are gradually increased to a considerable strength and then gradually diminished. If the part to be operated upon is too small to permit the use of the whole hand, only the tips of the fingers are employed. By means of these strokings, abnormal collections of fluid, such as extravasations of blood or exudations, spread over a larger expanse which is favourable to their more rapid absorption, or else they are pressed inwards directly into the lymphatic vessels and thus driven away from the diseased parts. Stroking towards the periphery should only be performed in exceptional cases, because they act in an opposite direction to the lymph stream, but in the case of considerable fluid collections they have at times this advantage, that they procure towards the periphery a greater surface for absorption. Nevertheless, one must not subject every inflammatory swelling to effleurage, since an exudation charged with infectious matters may easily produce inflammation and suppuration in the neighbouring parts by its extension. Massage is entirely out of the question in all cases of venous inflammation, since by its employment detached pieces of thrombus or softened masses ofdetritus might be conveyed into the circulation, where they would produce the most serious disturbances. Soft tissue growths, especially such as the well-known fungous granulations, may be crushed by effleurage, and thus their absorption rendered more easy. After the rubbing has been continued for a long time the skin reddens, the patient experiences a decided feeling of warmth, and sometimes the temperature of the part is raised, as may be shown by the use of a thermometer, a condition which only disappears gradually after the lapse of some hours. In many cases the pain produced at the commencement of the massage is very considerable, but by gradual increase in the strength with which the movements are performed the sensibility gradually declines. In the massage ä friction the finger-tips of one hand work with energetic elliptical rubbings proceeding from the periphery towards the centre, whilst the finger-tips of the other hand follow with a stroking movement. The parts which the fingers of the first hand press and pound the fingers of the other hand rub over afterwards with a circular movement. A considerable degree of dexterity and practice is necessary to perform this operation properly, as the
fingers of each hand have to be moved differently. This is especially difficult when the left hand does the rubbings while the right follows with a stroking movement. Petrissage is a thorough kneading of the parts. A fold of the affected tissues (the skin and especially the muscles) is raised between the thumb and the four other fingers of each hand, and whilst this fold is strongly pressed, both hands work together in an opposite direction to the longitudinal axis of the limb, and act thus slowly towards the centre of the body. Tapottement consists in small blows which are bestowed upon the affected part either by the relaxed finger or by a special hammering apparatus made of indiarubber, wood, or whalebone. Besides these there are the chopping and sawing movements, which are performed with the ulnar edge of the hand, and the slappings with the entire hand.
General orthopædics, gymnastics and massage by Busch, F. (Friedrich), 1844-1914; Ziemssen, H. von (Hugo), 1829-1902; Winternitz, W; Smith, E. Noble, (Eldred Noble), 1847-1906; Elsner, F. W. Archive.org
Douglas Graham, MD on Metger:
Dr. Mezger, of Amsterdam , treated the (then ) Danish crown prince successfully for a chronic joint trouble by means of massage, which he used in a manner somewhat peculiar to himself and in accordance with the teachings of physiology and pathological anatomy. When the prince got well, he sent a young physician to Amsterdam to study Dr. Mezger’s method of applying massage, and soon after many old as well as young physicians visited the clinic of Mezger and they all agreed that the so-called massage used in Mezger’s manner and according to the indications which a very large experience enabled him to point out, is a most worthy agent in various affections of the joints, besides in inflammations and neuroses. They considered that credit was due to Mezger for having improved massage in a physiological manner, and for having brought it to be acknowledged as a highly valuable method.
A Practical Treatise on Massage Its History, Mode of Application, and Effects, Indications and Contra-indications; with Results in Over Fourteen Hundred CasesBy Douglas Graham · 1884 Google Books)
According to A Practical Treatise on Massage Its History, Mode of Application, and Effects, Indications and Contra-indications; with Results in Over Fourteen Hundred Cases By Douglas Graham · 1884 Google Books)
Gazette des Hôpitaux for 1839 makes known to us that in the island of Tonga, Oceanica, when a person is fatigued from walking or other exercise, he lies down and some of the natives practise divers operations upon him , known under the name of Toogi Toogi, Mili or Fota. The first of these words expresses the action of striking constantly and softly with the fist; the second that of rubbing with the palm of the hand ; the third that of pressing and squeezing the tissues between the fingers and the thumb. These operations are ordinarily done by females; and they contribute to diminish fatigue and pain, besides producing an agreeable effect which disposes to sleep.. When they practise them with the intention of diminishing fatigue alone, the arms and legs are worked upon ; but when there is pain in some place, it is the part affected or the surrounding parts where the operations are applied . In headache the skin over the frontal region and also that over the cranium is submitted to Fota, and often with success. Sometimes in cases of fatigue they make use of a process which differs from the proceeding ordinarily employed ; three or four little children tread under their feet the whole body
of the patient. The Turks, Egyptians, and Africans, according to Ardonin, use similar procedures ; they rub and press with the fingers, and they knead all parts of the body. With the Russians, flagellation and friction by means of a bundle of birch twigs are resorted to after the subject has been well parboiled in a vaporbath. A pailful of cold water is then dashed over him from head to foot, the effect of which is described as electrifying. After this he plunges into the snow, and thus tempers himself like steel to indure with impunity the rigorous climate. The Siberians and Laplanders also indulge in these luxuries.