Herodicus was another physician who used different types of approaches to medicine and he is considered to be one of those who created the base for sports medicine. Besides a good diet and exercises, he almost always recommended massage. He believed that massages had to be done in a specific manner that he prescribed and by increasing the pressure gradually over the length of the session.

In Ancient Rome, massage was also a big part of medicine but the medical profession wasn’t seen as a very valuable profession in the early history of Rome. The first medics and masseurs were slaves called Aleiptes who were actually trained in Greece, a place where medicine was seen as an important job for society.

The slaves were trained to cure different ailments through herbs and the use of massage. One of the most popular and renowned physicians was Asclepidaes who supposedly managed to bring back a man from the dead with the use of massage. Whether this story is true or not, we don’t know, but this definitely testifies to the fact that massage was an important part of many cultures, gaining such a mystical status in collective memory.

Another important person who inspired the use of massage was Aurelius Cornelius Celsus, who was a Roman physician and a medical historian. He managed to document a large part of Roman medical history and studies, plus the teachings of Hippocrates so he was greatly influenced by his theories.

In his writings he also mentions a few guidelines that need to be respected whenever a person performs massage therapy. He states that massage shouldn’t be used when there is a crisis stage of acute diseases or when there is a fever.

Also, he was convinced that patients who were more vigorous and had a stronger body needed to get a stronger massage with more ample movements than the ones who were weaker, so he promoted a sort of personalized treatment for each patient.

In 100BC massage had become popular in Rome and even Julius Caesar underwent massage sessions every day for his neuralgia and epileptic seizures. The famous Roman baths soon adopted massage that was used for relaxation during the bath while socializing. .

By the middle Ages, all the medical knowledge which included massage therapy was known throughout Europe. A lot of ancient manuscripts were collected and translated so that physicians could perform them on a regular basis.

to  be continued,

If you need a massage therapy on the Gold Coast for pain relief purpose, click and visit Massage Gold Coast and feel better already.

Pain Relief Massage Clinic
192 Brisbane Road, Arundel Gold Coast QLD 4214 Australia
Phone: (07) 5537 7886