3000 BC – 1600 BC - The oldest Chinese book written about massage was Cong-Fu of the Toa-Tse.

We know that in Eastern cultures, massage has been practiced since ancient times. There is a Chinese book dated from 2700 B.C., titled “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine", which recommends “breathing, exercise, massage of the skin and flesh, as one of the appropriate treatments for complete paralysis, chills and fever”. It was the principal method for relieving pain for Greeks and Roman Physicians. Julius Caesar who suffered from neuralgia (nerve pain) and epileptic seizures, was given a daily massage, and was said to have been “Pinched” every day.

In the 5th Century B.C., the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, wrote “The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing.. for rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and loosen a joint that is too rigid”. Hippocrates was taught by Herodicus, both of them using Friction to treat sprains and dislocations.

2500 BC – The Egyptians created reflexology.

2000 BC – The first writing about massage appear.

The 16th Century had French doctors like Ambroise Pare who was a physician to the French courts, praising massage as treatment for different ailments. Westerners were more familiar with Swedish massage, which was developed in the 19th century by a Swedish doctor, poet, educator by the name of Henrik Ling. Doctor Ling based his system on a study of gymnastics and physiology, techniques borrowed from Egypt, China and Rome.

1000 BC – The use of oils for massages are present in Homer’s writings.

776 BC – 380 BC - Throughout the Olympic Games athletes were massaged prior to their events.

130 AD – 100 AD - Galen a Greek physician for the school of gladiators massaged them before fighting.

1368 - 1644 - Pediatric massage was used in the Ming Dynasty which has evolved into a modality still used today.

1660 - 1930 – In Prussia,  Friedrich Hoffman was the physician to the King of Prussia and recommended massage for the royal court.  A Japanese philosopher and seminary educator, Dr Mikao Usui discovered Reiki. This has been dated back to early Tibetan healing practices. Medical Massage was introduced to the medical community in Holland by Johann Mezger. Thus the terms effleurage, petrissage and tapotement began being used. The two New York physicians George and Charles Taylor, introduced massage therapy to the U.S., both brothers had studied in Sweden. In World War I patients suffering from nerve injuries and shell shock were treated with massage to alleviate pain at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London.

1932 – 1960’s – Dr. Emil Vodder, a Danish physiologist created Manual Lymph Drainage. The Chicago American Association Of Masseurs and Masseuses was formed, which later became the American Massage therapy Association and the dues were a whopping $0.50!   Francis Tappan and Gertrude Beard wrote articles and books on massage techniques. Massage in athletics is used by Albert Baumgartner.

1960’s – Present – Joseph Heller an aerospace engineer started Hellerwork (form of Rolfing). David Palmer markets On Site Massage. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles  massage therapy was offered officially for the first time. David palmer created the first  massage chair in 1986. In 1990 protocol for fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) defined by the American College of Rheumatology.