THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



OCTOBER, 1882. 



MASSAGE: ITS MODE OF APPLICATION AND 



EFFECTS. 



By DOUGLAS GRAHAM, M. D. 



" "TV /TASSAGE," from the Greek masso (I knead or handle), is a term 

 -LVJL now generally accepted to signify a group of procedures which 

 are usually done with the hands, such as friction, kneading, manipu- 

 lating, rolling, and percussing of the external tissues of the body, 

 either with some curative, palliative, or hygienic object in view. Its 

 application should in many instances be combined with passive, resist- 

 ive, or assistive movements, and these are often spoken of as the so- 

 called Swedish movement-cure. There is, however, an increasing 

 tendency on the part of scientific men to have the word " massage " 

 embrace all these varied forms of manual therapeutics, for the reason 

 that the word "cure," attached to any form of treatment whatsoever, 

 can not always be applicable, inasmuch as there are many maladies that 

 preclude the possibility of recovery and yet admit of amelioration. 

 Hence the. word " cure " may lead people to expect too much ; and, on 

 the other hand, the use of the word "rubbing" in place of " massage' 1 

 tends to undervalue the application and benefit of the latter, for it is 

 but natural to suppose that all kinds of rubbing are alike, differing 

 only in the amount of force used. 



According to the requirements of individual cases, massage may 

 be o primary importance or of secondary importance, of no use at all, 

 or even injurious. Concerning the extent of its usefulness, it may 

 with safety be said that, at tolerably definite stages in one or more 

 classes of affections in every special and general department of medi- 

 cine, evidence can be found that it has proved either directly or in- 

 directly beneficial, or led to recovery, sometimes when other means 

 had been but slowly operative, or apparently had failed altogether. 

 tol. xxi. 46 



