Many experts in the field search for the origins of massage by exploring the phenomenon of the sense of touch. Healing through touch developed independently in many cultures. Massage was practiced in ancient Egypt about 5,000 years ago (Prochowicz Z., 2000). Although the details are unknown, the available sources (frescoes and papyri) indicate that foot massage was known and used at that time.
More than 3,000 years BCE, the Chinese work Kung-fu contains a reference to treatment by massage. It may be argued that the foundations of physiotherapy were established in this northern region of China. Northern China consists largely of semi-desert and desert areas, where herbs were scarce. Therefore, help in combating diseases was sought through other means: heated stones were applied to the body, points were warmed with dried mugwort leaves and then punctured with stone needles (prototypes of metal ones). The first school of massage was established in China. In the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, dating from approximately 1500–3000 BCE, guidelines concerning methods of performing such treatments are also included.
The true development of massage as a therapeutic discipline took place in ancient Greece. Hippocrates described it around 380 BCE. A well-known fact is the cult of the body that existed there. During the Olympic Games, athletes used massage before competitions. Together with Greek culture, massage spread to Rome. Julius Caesar described the treatment of sciatica using techniques of pinching and kneading (Podgórski T., 1998).
The Dark Ages (the Middle Ages) marked a period in which such treatments were largely abandoned in Western culture.
The renaissance of massage occurred in the 16th century in France. The most eminent barber-surgeon, military surgeon, and royal physician, Ambroise Paré, proclaimed massage an official method of treatment. Another significant contributor to the development of massage was the German physician Friedrich Hoffmann (1600–1672), who created a system of techniques applied to specific disease entities.
The 19th century was a time of great progress thanks to the Swedish physician Per Henrik Ling, the founder of the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics in Stockholm. He was a co-creator of Swedish gymnastics combined with elements of therapeutic massage.
The true father of the classical, scientific school of massage was the Dutchman Johan Mezger (1839–1906). He developed indications and contraindications and proposed a systematic therapeutic methodology. Another continuator was the Polish physician Izydor Zabłudowski (1851–1906), head of the University Department of Therapeutic Massage. His scientific publications elevated massage to the level of other medical treatment methods. Scientific confirmation of the experiences of natural medicine demonstrates the existence of reflex connections between the skin and diseased internal organs.
These discoveries are primarily attributed to the research of the following physicians:
MacKenzie and Head (Head’s zones, areas of hypersensitivity),
Hansen and von Staa (cutaneous–visceral reflex pathways),
Schmidt (transitional segments),
Pischinger (the cellular–environmental system).
It is also worth mentioning Polish contributors such as M. Kosiński, a professor at the University of Warsaw, and J. Zaorski, the founder of a massage school. Further examples include: Zygmunt Prochowicz – Foundations of Therapeutic Massage; Adam Zborowski – Therapeutic Massage; Leszek Magiera – Classical Therapeutic Massage; Tomasz Podgórski – Classical Massage, and many others not mentioned in this work (Magiera L., 1995).