The history of massage is almost as long and varied as that of humanity itself. It is easy to observe the instinctive nature of massage as a way to soothe pain and injury. When a person has aching muscles, the natural impulse is to rub away the pain.

Most ancient cultures practiced a form of healing touch which evolved with medical knowledge. The oldest organized form originated in China.  Accessory techniques such as Ba Gua and Guasha have ancient roots
in cultures around the world.

Although massage can stand on its own as a modality for general well-being, it can also be considered a part of "manual medicine", that is, the hands-on treatment of injury and disease. Not surprisingly, considering its universal roots, manual medicine is also the foundation of such disciplines
as chiropractic, osteopathy and physical therapy and their counterparts around the world, such as the Chinese
Zheng Gu.

In the West, massage came to the Romans though the Greeks. It then suffered a decline in esteem and use in the middle ages. It survived as a folk practice throughout Europe until Pier Henrik Ling developed Swedish massage as part of a gymnastic conditioning routine. Swedish massage is the origin of the basic massage terms many people are familiar with: effleurage, petrissage and tapotement (French terminology codified by Dr. Johann Mezger).

In the twentieth century, massage was both scorned and revered. There were a few illegitimate massage schools that became infamous through substandard education and false promises of employment, where therapists were expected to perform more than just massage. At the same time, many independent schools genuinely flourished, and new modalities such as craniosacral therapy and somatic therapy developed as part of a movement in the West to recognize the close relationship between body, mind and spirit.

In the early 1990's, massage made a breakthrough into the public eye as the demand for alternative and complimentary therapies reached its 'critical mass'. Today, in addition to such Western techniques of massage as Swedish, we have witnessed an explosion of growing popularity of such Eastern techniques as TuiNa, Acupressure and Ayurvedic massage. The market for massage has continued to skyrocket as the public gains an understanding of the true benefits of massage therapy.

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