Medical massage

Massage has been used as a medical treatment dating back to the Chinese over 5000 years ago. More recently Professor Silas Weir Mitchell (1829-1914), a neurologist in Philadelphia is thought to be the first to bring massage to the attention of the US medical community. In 1884, Douglas Graham, MD of Boston Massachusetts wrote A Practical Treatise on Massage which focuses on the treatment of specific diseases and disorders by using massage as a treatment. In 1885, Dr Harvey Kellogg published the classic textbook The Art of Massage,Its Physiological Effects and Therapeutic Actions. During the nineteenth century, massage in Europe was described in the medical literature and was taught at institutions and also offered by lay practitioners. In 1886, William Murrell, an English Physician wrote a book Massage as a Mode of Treatment. In Russia, M.Y. Mudrov, MD used massage and movement exercises in his medical practice with adults and later applied it to the development of children.[1]

Massage has been popular as a form of medical treatment in Russia since the late 1700s.[2]

The American Medical Massage Association[3] (1998) and The United States Medical Massage Association (1999) followed with similar goals of lifting the profession to higher standards and, in turn, giving patients a better outcome. The AMMA has worked with the standard medical community to bring massage therapy into the mainstream; they have done this through a board of advisers that includes massage therapists, physicians, chiropractors etc.

Much of the present explosion of information in the injury-rehabilitation field can be credited to the work of Dr. Janet G Travell (1901–1997).[4]

United States

Any Licensed Massaged Therapist is qualified to do medical massage if they have training on how to treat specific problems. State Licensure is the only qualification need to bill for massage therapy. In Washington State and many other states part of the state licensure includes some treatment massage training but the amount of training varies greatly. Massage customers should ask, Therapist about their training and experience in treating the specific conditions that they have. Washington State and Florida are currently the only states that mandates that Massage Therapists be allowed to be contracted providers with health insurance companies. Currently, the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010 does make provisions for every type of provider to be covered in insurance plans. It is possible that massage will be covered by insurance under this new Act.[5]