History of Massage Therapy | Massage Therapy Journal (2023)

How much do you know about the history of your profession? If you’re like most massage therapists, just some general references to ancient Greeks and a man from Sweden named Ling. Even less is understood about how the massage therapy profession evolved in America—many believe it started in the 1970s in California.

The real story of how massage therapists arrived at where we are today is full of countless surprises and interesting characters, much like a family history going back generations. We can see ourselves in our predecessors and, through understanding our history, recognize the forces that shaped who we are at this moment as a profession.

Having an underlying sense of history is importantfor massage therapists emerging as modern health andwellness professionals. Knowing where you came from,the core of your professional identity, provides a strongfoundation from which you can move into the futurewith integrity.

Recounting former times also spurs “ahamoments” as the world of the past opens up and we understandfor the first time how things we see today cameto be. Our profession begins to make more sense—thediversity, the independent streak, the holistic viewpoint,the affinity for natural healing, and the singularity of ourvocation as massage therapists.

Tracing the professional lineage of massage therapistsin America today takes us back to colonial times andcontinues from there through generations of practitionersadvancing to the present day. Progress through thedecades was impacted by national and world events, advancesin science and medicine, and religious and socialmovements—the larger context in which massage therapistsof the past lived and worked.

Follow along as I take you through ten of the mostinfluential moments in the massage therapy profession’shistory.

One.

We begin in colonial times. As an occupation, massagetherapy dates back to the 1700s, where forerunners oftoday’s massage therapists were called rubbers. Rubberswere experts in treating orthopedic problems with manualrubbing and friction. You might look at the influencethey had on massage therapy this way: They establishedthe occupation from which the profession of massagetherapy later developed.

Medical rubbers were typically women hired by surgeonsto assist with the rehabilitation of patients aftersurgery, and with treatment of lameness and jointdiseases. Rubbers had little education, but possesseda knack for hands-on therapy. Their basic techniqueswere simple, but were modified to produce different effects.Rubbers incorporated joint movements into theirtreatments to increase range of motion, and to get lamepatients walking again.

Before medical licensing laws limited their practices,some rubbers worked independently in competitionwith regular doctors. They found clientele in their townsand city neighborhoods, chiefly by word of mouth, andmany became successful entrepreneurs. This was oneof the few occupations by which women could make aliving outside of the home in those times. Rubbers weregradually replaced by the better educated and morehighly skilled masseuses and masseurs in the early1900s.

Two.

A different type of manual therapist called a medicalgymnast came to America in the 1850s and elevatedhands-on treatment to a new level. Medical gymnastsused a system of movement and manipulation developedby Pehr Henrich Ling of Sweden to promote health, preventdisease, and treat illness and injuries. They weregraduates of a two-year education program at the RoyalCentral Institute in Sweden (est. 1813) that includedstudy of anatomy and physiology, hygiene (health), pathology,movement prescriptions, and work in clinicsand hospitals. This model of education was used in establishingtraining schools for medical gymnasts in theUnited States, like the famous Posse Gymnasium in Boston,which opened in 1890.

The Swedish movement approach was scientific andholistic, two principles that remain deeply ingrained inthe field today. Ling insisted that movement and manipulationprescriptions be based on anatomy and physiology,and be proven by clinical trial and measurement.He also believed in the unity of the person—body, mind,and spirit—and that movement profoundly affects thewhole person in maintaining or restoring health. Medicalgymnasts laid the groundwork for a unique professionof highly skilled hands-on specialists outside ofconventional medicine.

Three.

The titles masseuse and masseur became common inthe 1880s, referring to manual therapists trained inthe soft tissue manipulations developed by a Europeanmedical doctor named Johann Mezger. Mezger outlinedthe classic categories of massage techniques: effleurage,petrissage, friction and tapotement. Vibration wasadded later. Medical gymnasts soon integrated massageinto their overall approach, a combination sometimesreferred to as mechanotherapy.

By the early 1900s in America, massage had becomethe dominant term for manual therapy in general, andmasseuse and masseur for hands-on specialists educatedin the traditions of Ling and Mezger. Masseusesand masseurs continued to work both within conventionalmedicine as doctors’ assistants, as well as in privatepractice as independent practitioners. Ohio wasthe first state to regulate massage as a “limited branchof medicine,” and Agnes Bridget Forbes became the firstlicensed masseuse in North America in 1916.

Four.

Massage became linked with magnetism and magnetichealing in the latter 1800s. Magnetism was thought tobe a divine healing force transmitted to an ailing patientthrough touch and motion. Magnetic healers would eitherpass their hands over the body without contact, orin some cases use light touch and stroking to stimulatevital energy. Magnetic masseurs combined this earlyform of energywork with standard massage. The ideathat massage could impart a vital power reinforced itsholistic nature, and expanded the notion of massage toinclude energy therapy. By the 1900s, the concept ofmagnetism had largely disappeared from massage textbooks.

Five.

Massage and hydrotherapy have a long association.Hydropathy required bath attendants to apply a lowskilledtype of rubbing and friction as part of the treatments.This is the origin of many spa services today,such as body wraps and scrubs. When water treatmentswere put on a more scientific basis in the late 1800s,they were referred to as hydrotherapy.

Massage and hydrotherapy were often combined incomprehensive treatments for a variety of illnesses andinjuries, and masseuses and masseurs were employedto give them. Independent massage practitioners beganto include forms of hydrotherapy in their services, particularlydifferent types of baths. Health reformers inthe 1890s advocated for such natural approaches to promotegood health, and as alternatives to conventionalmedicine.

Six.

The familiar full-body general massage given on a paddedtable with the client under a drape was unheard ofprior to the 1880s. General massage had its origin in thefamous Rest Cure for a condition called neurasthenia, akind of debilitating melancholy common among societyladies in the late 19th century. The most extreme formof the Rest Cure involved forced bed rest, liberal feedingand elimination of all stimulation thought to agitate thepatient mentally.

During the bed rest period, full-body general massagewas given for circulation and to increase the patient’sappetite, a kind of substitute for exercise. TheRest Cure eventually fell out of favor, but a generation ofwell-connected women and men had been introducedto general massage for convalescence after an illness,rejuvenation and as an overall health measure.

Thepopularity of general massage greatly increased the demandfor independent masseuses and masseurs in theearly 1900s. This type of general massage is a forerunnerof today’s wellness and relaxation massage.

Seven.

Swedish massage had evolved by the 1930s. This wasnot what we call Swedish massage today, but a wholesystem of physiotherapy. Swedish masseuses and masseursutilized soft tissue manipulation, movements,hydrotherapy and electrotherapy for applications rangingfrom general health promotion to treating diseasesto rehabbing injuries. They worked as physiotherapistsin conventional medicine (prior to physical therapy licensingin the 1950s), and in YMCAs, public baths andspas, and beauty parlors. Many opened private practicesin their neighborhoods in the form of health clinicsand reducing salons.

Doctors regularly referred patients to Swedish masseusesand masseurs up to the 1950s. During this sametime, the American Association of Masseuses and Masseurs,(established in 1943 and now the American MassageTherapy Association), began to lay the foundationfor the current profession in the United States by establishingeducational and ethical standards for the field.

In 1954, AAMM issued a policy statement asserting theright of masseuses and masseurs to practice independentlyfrom organized medicine, and reaffirming theusefulness of Swedish massage as a natural healing approach.

Eight.

The terms massage therapy and massage therapist began to replaceformer designations for the profession in the 1960s. By thattime, the titles masseuse and masseur had fallen into disrepute,and massage parlor, once an innocent label for a massage business,alluded to a house of prostitution.

In 1958, the AAMM changed itsname to the American Massage & Therapy Association, and fromthat point on encouraged calling the profession massage therapyand practitioners massage therapists. The “&” was dropped in1983, reinforcing the identity of the unified profession as massagetherapy. The term therapy was defined generally as promoting goodhealth and encompassed the whole range of applications envisionedby Ling over a century earlier.

The title massage therapist was readilyunderstood by the general public, and helped give the field legitimacyas a health profession.

Nine.

The field of massage therapy went through a period of transformationbetween 1970 and 2000. The counterculture movement of the1960s spawned a generation looking for greater meaning in theirlives, and revived an interest in natural healing.

The human potentialmovement, epitomized by the Esalen Institute in California (est.1962), fostered new types of manual therapy, such as Rolfing andEsalen massage. Hands-on approaches from Asia—including acupressurefrom China, shiatsu from Japan, and Ayurvedic massagefrom India—were embraced in America.

The term bodywork wascoined to encompass the diversity of manual therapies that surfacedin this period. The wellness movement, fitness boom, concern aboutunhealthy stress, and growth of alternative medicine all contributedto a rising public interest in massage therapy, which expanded itsscope to include diverse massage modalities.

Escalating consumerdemand for massage therapy, and an increasing number of men andwomen wanting to become massage therapists, revitalized a fieldthat had become somewhat stagnant.

Ten.

The emerging massage therapy profession took more definitive shapein the 1990s as a variety of organizations were created to further solidifythe profession’s foundation, including The Massage TherapyFoundation, for example, whose focus on research has helped betterquantify the benefits of massage therapy. Additionally, the massagetherapy profession saw more and more states pass licensinglaws, starting with 17 in the 1990s and increasing to 45 today.

Thisregulation, among other things, like more rigorous research and increasedconsumer awareness, has worked to further legitimate themassage therapy profession within the health and wellness arena.

Understanding some of the pivotal moments in the massage therapyprofession’s history is one way to get a better grasp of where weare today. These 10 moments don’t represent the entire scope of thehistory of massage therapy, but do give you a general overview ofhow the profession developed which can help us better navigatethe future.