The Origins Of Massage
Massage is an intuitive healing art that has been around for millenia. The first writings about massage can be traced back to the Chinese about 5000 years ago.
Massage then went global and there is evidence of massage therapy used by the Ancient Eqgyptians, Greeks and Romans. Early medical and Veterinary books contain many Chapters about Massage Therapy.
In the 1800's a Swede by the name of Pehr Heinrickling Ling modernised massage therapy and practiced his modern techniques on athletes, specifically Gymnasts with great success. He is regarded as the 'farther of modern massage'.
There are now over 70 massage modalities practiced in the UK and many people, horses and other animals are discovering the benefits of massage as a preventative therapy, reducing the risk of sustaining major injuries/stress related illness.
Evolution of massage.
Massage for Horses
Veterinary practices in the 50's and 60's recognised the value of massage for horses. In veterinary books from that time there are chapters on how to correctly hand rub and massage a horse and vets found massage to be particularly useful for sprains, bruises, saddle sores, girth galls, swollen joints, sore shines, bad backs,first stages of splints and muscle fatigue.
In later years most racing yards would carry out the procedure of 'strapping' a horses muscles, particularly before and after racing. This involved using a wisp of straw or a leather pad and performing a rhythmical downward stroking motion on the large muscles to improve blood flow.
In more recent decades yard sizes have expanded and strapping is not as common any more mainly due to time factors. Although Black Caviar still received strapping treatments before her races!
This is where the modern day equine sports massage therapists such as Trish can help. As a massage therapist, Trish devotes her time to ensuring her customers horses receive the very best massage treatments for improved health and well being.
Horses respond well to massage due to their natural mutual grooming habits!