Origin of Massage

The word “massage” in English comes from the ancient term – “Muo Suo” in China.

Massage was originated from human beings would instinctively press to stop bleeding and rub to relieve swelling and stop pain when injures such as fractures, contusions and strains happened to them in labor work.

The people of the Yin –shang Dynasty in B.C. 1300 created tuina in the central region in China, equivalent to today’s Luoyang area of Henan Province currently.

The book Huangdi Neijing (Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine) in the Qin and Han Dynasties in B.C. 221 – A.D. 220 fully affirmed the therapeutic effect of tuina and held that tuina had the function of promoting qi to activate blood, eliminating cold to stop pain, dredging the meridians and reducing fever to tranquilize the mind.

In Qin Dynasty the famous doctor Bian Que used massage therapy to cure the Guo kingdom prince’ faint disease. In Han Dynasty when Buddhism started to spread into China, the prominent doctor Zhang Zhongjing listed the ointment tuina as one the methods of health care for the first time.

Another famous doctor Hua Tuo promoted the frolics of five animals, which led daoyin (physical and breathing exercises) and tuina close to bionics, and provided a set of effective means of health care for the later generations. He was good at applying ointment massage and the first person to employ y the ointment massage extensively in clinic.

In the Jin and Tang Dynasties in A.D 265-907, the rulers gradually valued tuina therapy. Emperor Tang Taizong set up an Imperial Health Administration with large scale and good facilities, in which there was a tuina department.

Self-tuina was also laid stress on in this period. Many records about methods of self-tuina such as tuina method of ancient India and Laozi Tuina could be found in Ge Hong’s Zhouhou Beijifang (Hanfbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies) and Sun Simiao’s Qianjinfang (Valuable Prescriptions).

The therapeutic indications of tuina were also gradually expanded in this period. For instance, in Tangliudian (Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty) there were records about eight kinds of diseases caused by pathogenic wind, cold, heat, dampness, hunger, overeating, overwork and lack of exercise, which could be treated with tuina.

It was in this period that tuina techniques were introduced into Korea, Japan, India, Europe and some Arabic countries.