Classic Massage

In America, the term classic massage is used very little, while Swedish massage is considered the classic and most basic of all massage methods. Swedish massage did not originate in Sweden, nor was it created by a Swede. In Sweden there is no such thing as "Swedish massage." Instead, massage is referred to almost universally as "classic massage." And in most of Europe the term classic massage is much more prevalent than Swedish massage. The term "Swedish massage" is a misnomer in a number of ways. Swedish massage is defined in large part by the original strokes that compose its method: effleurage (stroking), petrissage (kneading), tapotement (striking), and frictions (rubbing), with vibration added later.

The use of these passive movements is accompanied with other difficulties that prevent their general use as a medical resource. An ordinary course of medical instruction does not confer the necessary qualifications for their successful application; the tact and skill necessary to prescribe and apply them properly is only acquired by long and patient practice, and the labor is excessively severe. Thus physicians have neither the time nor the skill to utilize massage as a therapeutic tool, and for a long time, massage was relegated to the "feel good" spa mentality.

Even so, as early as 1890 a number of physicians and non-physicians had published books describing in detail with text and illustrations the massage movements we now refer to as Swedish or Classic Massage. And Swedish, or classic, massage was used extensively in a number of sanitariums, and other establishments in Europe and North America. Thus massage evolved as a stand-alone therapeutic tool for the first time in its long history, and has continued to develop and expand ever since. Now, the medical and therapeutic benefits of massage are universally acknowledged, and doctors and physical therapists are more and more referring their patients to qualified massage therapists.

Christine Ford