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The Politics Of Massage: Alternative or Mainstream Treatment?
I tend to view massage therapy independently of broader
categories of therapy, healing or other restorative practices or
systems. I am inclined to do this because I am cautious about
allowing massage to be classified as a traditional therapy
versus an alternative therapy.
There are many practitioners who cringe when they see massage
therapy lumped in with "alternative" practices such as
acupuncture, chiropractic or naturopathic health. To some these
smack of quackery, fakery or, in some cases, lunacy. I believe
that this aversion to association with alternative medical
practices is extreme but I concede that a massage therapy purist
could develop such a phobia.
On the other hand, more open-minded massage therapists abhor
associating massage exclusively with clinical practices such as
physical therapy or other forms of rehabilitation. There is some
resentment towards the incorporation of massage therapy into
traditional medicine only because they feel that massage may be
viewed as simply a procedure. This view strikes me as a bit
vindictive but given the historical view of the mainstream
medical industry towards the alternative medical community, some
bitterness can be expected.
I would hate to see massage go the way of today's politics which
attempt to label every political view as either liberal or
conservative. Massage therapy is neither traditional nor
alternative. Frankly, traditional medicine is, in actuality, an
"alternative" to massage when viewed in an historical context.
The first documented description of massage as a technique or
therapy dates back to 3,000 B.C. in China. The Chinese believed
that all illness was due to an imbalance of "Qi" within the
body. The inequitable distribution of this "life force" or "life
energy" was blamed for all ailments and this philosophy was
absorbed and incorporated by Japanese Buddhist monks into
Japanese massage techniques. This eventually evolved into the
unique Japanese massage therapy called Shiatsu or "finger
pressure."
At the same time, similar approaches were evolving in India,
eventually becoming the practice of Ayurvedic medicine, or the
"arts of life," which also utilized massage as an instrumental
healing methodology. Greeks, Romans and even Native Americans
highly valued not just the therapeutic, but also the actual
healing value of massage. Hippocrates
himself is quoted as
stating that "anyone wishing to study medicine must master the
art of massage."
But with the advent of the industrial age and the development of
modern scientific inquiry, massage was relegated to the list of
unenlightened, unsophisticated medical practices. In my opinion,
however, to dismiss the medicinal and restorative benefits of
massage was to dismiss the wisdom of the Ancients. The lack of
modern scientific diagnostic techniques and the inability to
examine the physical being at the cellular level, forced the
earliest physicians to take a macro view of the person since a
micro view was unavailable. That macro view and the knowledge
garnered through the ages is still the essence of the practice
of the ancient art of massage.
That is not to say that the more clinical modern approach to
massage is without merit. On the contrary, contemporary research
has validated many of the formerly unsubstantiated claims of
alternative practitioners. Scientific studies have confirmed the
effectiveness of massage in alleviating some depressive
symptoms, altering the immune system, controlling pain and
reducing stress. As stress is identified as the precipitator of
so many medical problems, physicians are less reluctant to
recommend massage as part of an overall regime to address
certain conditions.
So I echo the plea of Rodney King when he asked, "Can't we all
just get along?" Massage does not need the blessing of the
medical establishment to claim its place among the healing arts,
thank you. Nor is it the exclusive therapeutic domain of the
alternative community. I am comfortable with claims that massage
can benefit the whole person and I welcome the recognition of
the scientific examiners who methodically study the benefits of
touch for healing. But I intend to plant myself firmly in the
middle and surrender to no particular ideology of massage
therapy. I endorse massage for what it does.
About the author:
J. Terrence McDermott is the administrator of Massage Schools
Guide at http://www.massageschoo
lsguide.com, a website offering resources for prospective
massage therapists. He specializes in online continuing
education resources and also administers Access Online Degrees
at http://www.accessonline
degrees.com.
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