Massage

“ Very rarely I find a patient to whom all massage is so disagreeable or produces such annoying nervousness as to make manipulation impossible; sometimes, though very rarely, massage, especially frictional movements, causes sexual excitement when applied in the neighborhood of the genital organs, or even on the buttocks and lower spine, and this may occur in either sane or insane patients: if the rubber observe any signs of this, it will of course be best to avoid handling the areas which are thus sensitive. ”

“ Massage, as now practised, includes several processes, some of which are passive and others active. The former are carried out by an operator, and consist of rubbing and kneading the skin and deeper tissues with the hands, and exercising the joints by bending the patient’s limbs. The active movements consist of a special form of gymnastics, designed to exercise particular muscles or groups of muscles. In what is called “Swedish massage” the operator moves the limbs while the patient resists, thus bringing the opposing muscles into play. ”

“ While massage is not essential for the health, it aids materially in maintaining good health, but, in order to be efficient, a skilful masseuse is necessary, as a considerable amount of manipulative skill is essential, which can only be acquired by proper training. Massage, especially when taken in connection with the Turkish bath, is most valuable to remove weariness of nerves and muscles, as well as slight aches and pains. ”

“ Massage as Exercise.—This curious tendency of men to take their exercise far more regularly, provided some other is concerned in their taking it so that it cannot be neglected without explanation, is illustrated in many of the experiences of the doctor in modern life. A number of forms of massage have come into vogue as wonderful cure-alls. It is comparatively easy for some men, and above all for many women, to take their exercise by means of massage rather than in some more vigorous way that requires their own initiative. ”

“ Individual peculiarities must be considered always in giving massage. The room should be of such temperature that the patient when exposed will not feel chilly. Absolute quiet should be maintained during the treatment, and after the treatment the patient should remain quiet in a recumbent posture for an hour or two as the condition may require. The oft-used expression “that a masseur or masseuse possesses a great deal of electricity which is transferred during the treatment to the patient,” should find no place in the intelligent mind in considering the effects of massage. ”

“ The movements of the arms and hands, in applying the massage movements, exercise the muscles and nerves of the hands, the arms, the shoulders, the upper back, the sides, and the lower chest.
The massage influences the muscles, nerves, blood and lymph vessels of the arms, the shoulders, the sides and the lower chest. It also stimulates the action of the liver and strengthens that of the heart. ”

“ It is easy to understand then why massage is so beneficial for the face, and why it makes a rosy, healthy complexion. Massage alone will remedy many a complexion ill, for when the muscles are sluggish and torpid, the tissues weak and flabby, the circulation as slow as the messenger boys in the funny papers, and the skin sallow and wrinkled, all in the world that is needed is a little gentle patting and coddling and rubbing into a less lifeless state.
Great care must be taken lest the skin become bruised and irritated. For this reason a cream or skin food is used. ”

“ Well, now, if you want this skin to look like a complexion and not like a hide, I’ve got to give you a massage every third day for quite a while. It not only needs creams and cold applications—hot only once in a while—but an awful lot of hand massage. It’s all run down and needs stimulating the worst way. Another year and you’d be havin’ lines. You can’t leave yourself to nature up here. ”

“ If the massage is continued, the flabby flesh will also be reduced, especially when the astringent wash is applied to help the hardening process. When the face is to be plumpened or wrinkles removed, then rub the skin very gently with a rotary motion, which is not a mere rubbing but a kneading as well, and follow with light tapping movements. Never roll the flesh between the fingers unless reduction is the object. Also, never massage oftener than once every twenty-four hours, and then only for fifteen or twenty minutes. ”

“ It is not, as in this country, confined to the head, but approximates to what we term massage, and consists in a rubbing of the muscles of the body—a fact which not only has a beneficial effect physically, but is also efficacious in the direction of cleanliness. ”

“ A graduated form of bodily exercise combined with passive gymnastics, suitable for climacteric women, is massage, in which by mechanical stimulation, by pressure and friction of the whole body or of certain parts, the nutrition of the muscles is favourably influenced, and the activity of the general circulation is increased. In the use of massage also, in climacteric women, all undue excitation of the nervous system is to be carefully avoided, a mild form of this powerful agent must alone be employed ”

“ One is physical strength. Deep massage is very laborious work, and cannot be carried on for an hour, or even half an hour, without unusual muscular power. Feeble persons cannot practise it effectively at all. The duration of a sitting may vary from five or ten minutes to an hour. For general massage at least half an hour is required. A masser should have strength enough to do the work without too obvious exhaustion, which gives the patient an unpleasant impression. ”

“ A Chinese manuscript of three thousand years before the Christian era contains an account of operations very similar to those which go under that name at the present time—friction, kneading, manipulating, and rolling. A form of massage was the common accompaniment of the bath with the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and was used as a luxury, a means of hastening tedious convalescence, and of making the limbs supple and enduring. ”

“ Massage is an equally powerful stimulant to the skin and the sexual sphere,—acting mainly by friction instead of mainly by heat,—and it has not yet attained that position of general recognition and popularity which, in the case of bathing establishments, renders it bad policy to court disrepute. ”

“ This process, known as massage, may be gentle or vigorous and is subject to a variety of modifications. Massage is applied when one is unable to take exercise, on account of disease or accident, and also in the treatment of certain bodily disorders. ”

“ MASSAGE. The word massage has of late years come into general use to signify the method of treating disease or other physical conditions by manipulating the muscles and joints. According to Littré the word is derived from the Arabic mass, and has the specific meaning of “pressing the muscular parts of the body with the hands, and exercising traction on the joints in order to give suppleness and stimulate vitality.” ”

“ Massage is the most economic form of exercise on the nervous system. Its potency is shown by the increase of the red-blood corpuscles and hemoglobin, and by the increased rate and force of the heart’s beat without a corresponding change in the arterial tension. It accomplishes these results by decreasing the resistance in the peripheral vessels, by the removal of the products of oxidation, and by mechanically moving the blood-current forward in the lymph-spaces and venous channels. It is thus shown to stimulate the circulation, the respiration, nutrition, and excretion. ”

“ Those who, through some illness or infirmity, cannot take exercise, will find the greatest benefit from massage. If skilled massage cannot be obtained, gentle rubbing of the limb will fulfil the same useful purpose. ”

“ The circulation becomes defective, and this brings flabby tissues and a wrinkled, sallow skin. Then, oh, woe! woe! One feels as if one might just as well be dead and gone as to be trailing through life so afflicted.
Massage means "I knead." While the professional masseuse should be well informed concerning the muscles of the face and neck, the location of the veins and arteries, and the general formation of the skin, the little home body who wishes to rub away a few wrinkles or turkey tracks can easily dispense with the acquiring of so much knowledge. ”

“ Before beginning the massage have the face perfectly clean. Wash with tepid water and pure castile soap. Otherwise the dust and powder are kneaded into the pores and the result is frequently extremely irritating.
The reasons for massage are many. It facilitates and stimulates the skin in its continual effort to throw off the tiny flakes of dried, dead cuticle. It is exercise for the muscles, and at the same time it inspires a livelier circulation of the blood. ”

“ At an hour as far from the massage as possible lessons in co-ordinate movements are given, after a week or ten days of massage has prepared the muscles, and baths and a quiet life have steadied the nerves. ”

“ Some people either through general weakness or some infirmity are unable to take exercise for themselves, and in such cases massage is of great benefit, acting in the same way, but without any exertion on the part of the patient. The full consideration of this subject would need a volume of its own, and this is hardly the place to discuss it in greater detail. One important fact, however, requires mention. It is imperative that a prolonged rest of an hour or two at least should be allowed after each rubbing. One hour of massage is equivalent to several hours of active movement. ”

“ Massage is practiced chiefly for uterine and ovarian pains by the older women, who also act as midwives; it is used also in conjunction with kneading and manual manipulation in the cure of neuralgic pains, strains, stiffness, and rheumatism. ”

“ By this means the brain is enabled to resume a healthier mode of action, and sleep follows as a matter of course.
Massage.—This constitutes a process of rubbing and kneading the body. It has been practiced from time immemorial among the oriental races and the [Pg 61] Pacific Islanders as a means of relief from fatigue of every kind. Among the Japanese the practice of massage is a monopoly in the hands of the blind, who are thus enabled to support themselves. ”

“ In using massage, as much depends on the qualities and qualifications of the person who does it as in any other occupation. It would be wrong to leave the impression that massage is always agreeable from the first. In proportion as the muscles, superficial fascia, and skin are unnaturally tough, tense, matted and hide-bound, will the massage be disagreeable until they become soft, supple, and elastic. An appreciation of the proper consistence of the tissues and their anatomical structure is of the utmost importance for the success of this treatment. ”

“ When practicing the combined massage exercises set forth in this book, the muscles become massaged during each exercise.
The strongest athlete may exert the same strength that he employs in heavy-weight lifting, or apparatus work, when applying these massage movements to the body, without any of the possible ill effects resulting from heavy gymnastic work. ”

“ The essential thing in massage is the kneading of the muscles. We thus artificially increase the flow of the blood in them through the local irritation of the skin and the mechanical diffusion of the blood in the direction of the muscle. ”

“ I really thought so, but Miller grinned.
“You are delightful!” Lady Scilly said. “And you can have that boa you are fiddling with, if you like. Tulle is death to me! Makes me meretricious; and, child, when your time comes, don’t ever—ever—have anything to do with massage! It grows on one so! One can’t leave it off, and it has to be always with one, like the poor. I have actually to subsidize a masseuse to live round the corner, and she cheeks me all the time. Oh, la, la!”
I know about massage. I massed Ariadne once, according to a system we read of in a book. ”

“ The object is to add to faces with dry skin the best variety of fat with reference to its animal origin so as to make up for the wanting secretion of the sebaceous glands and to replace, if possible to a certain extent, the fat wanting in the tissues. All kinds of massaging of the skin should be avoided; only a gentle rubbing is allowed. In fact, I consider massage as deleterious to the face, except it is done by a qualified masseur who is an expert in this kind of massage with a correct anatomical knowledge of the muscles of the face and of the direction they are running. ”

“ The first thought that naturally occurs to one when endeavoring to stimulate the activities of any part of the body is to find some means of increasing the circulation to that part. Ordinary massage will usually accomplish this purpose to a limited degree, though massage to my mind is a superficial agent in many cases. It will increase local circulation, but it does not facilitate tissue changes to the same extent as exercise which directly affects the structures concerned, or the mechanical movements of the parts themselves that are brought about through active use of them in some way. ”

“ Furthermore, massage excites and awakens the muscular sense in an agreeable and beneficial manner such as nothing else does, and we know that the state of our muscles indicates and often determines our feeling of health and vigor, or of weariness and feebleness. To many minds a more satisfactory way of explaining the phenomena produced by massage would be by saying that they all occur in consequence of "magnetism," by which they have an indefinite understanding that this is some sort of imperceptible, ethereal fluid passing from one person to another. ”