Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/621015
time, Swedish masseuses and masseurs, acting as independent agents, continued the tradition of Ling with massage as a form of natural health and healing. They steadfastly refused to become subservient to medical doctors, although they took referrals from them. They pursued regulation of the massage therapy profession to ensure their independence, maintain their broad scope, and improve standards. Takeaway: Greater understanding of the history of our predecessors can, through the lens of time, provide a clearer picture of the nature of the massage therapy profession, and form a firmer foundation for present discussions related to the field. PERSPECTIVE ON CURRENT CHALLENGES Each generation of massage and bodywork practitioners faces unique challenges. Mentioned earlier, the task of creating a stronger infrastructure for an emerging profession from 1980 to 2000 is a case in point. A perennial challenge faced by practitioners, and addressed by professional organizations, is how to keep massage therapy growing and foster successful careers in the field. History can help shed light on forces that have impacted the economics of the profession in the past. Massage therapy is currently one of the most sought-after services at spas and is gaining inroads as treatment for a variety of conditions. You might never suspect that in the 1950s and 1960s, massage went through a period of severe decline and was almost snuffed out completely. The term massage parlor, once a common name for an ordinary massage business (similar to beauty parlor or funeral parlor), became a euphemism for a house of prostitution. The social climate was conservative, and anything out of the mainstream was suspect, including formerly respected natural healing methods. Allopathic medical societies waged war against alternative approaches they considered to be quackery. Massage became hard to find in neighborhoods, jobs dried up, and few people entered the field. All that changed in the 1970s when increased consumer demand breathed new life into the profession. The uptick in demand can be traced to concurrent social changes related to the counterculture and to the human potential and wellness movements that created a more favorable climate for CA M overall. Massage therapy rode the wave of that rising tide, which carried sustained growth in the field. Demand for massage therapy was bolstered by improved confidence in practitioners due to better education, stronger ethical standards, and public recognition of massage therapy as a legitimate health profession. Mounting research into the beneficial effects of massage broadened its scope and opened up additional career opportunities. A similar renaissance for masseuses and masseurs occurred over a century earlier on the tails of a comparable health reform movement, but it sputtered out within 50 years. Why? The story is too long to go into here, but take note for now that the fortunes of massage practitioners have gone up and down through time, and as long as the marketplace was favorable to natural healing methods, the occupation thrived. Takeaway: History can provide better perspective about current challenges for massage therapists, especially for perennial concerns inherent in advancing the profession. A TRACEABLE LINEAGE All established professions have a central historical narrative that recounts their ancestry and unifies the group. It places the profession in the context of time and gives it validity by virtue of having a distinct heritage. The storyline is generally known, valued, and passed from one generation to the next. Like tracing royalty through generations, having a well-defined lineage helps establish the legitimacy of an emerging profession such as massage therapy. Massage and bodywork practitioners today can point to ancient health and healing practices from all over the world that utilized touch and movement techniques, usually in conjunction with herbs, water, and other natural modalities. THE E VOLUTION OF MASSAGE Agnes Forbes was the first massage practitioner to become licensed in North America, receiving her license in 1916 in Ohio. 1915 1917 Ohio becomes the first state to implement licensing for massage therapists. The next year, Agnes Forbes becomes the first licensed massage therapist in North America. The US Army establishes the Reconstruction Department for soldiers injured in World War I, with four branches: massage, therapeutic exercise, electrotherapy, and hydrotherapy.