The ancient world has offered mankind so much knowledge, materials and rituals. Religion, architecture and road construction and medicine are a few practices that largely owe their existence to Ancient Egypt, Chine and Greece. In 300 BC China makes mention of massage as one of the ways to complete health. Greeks used massage as part of their daily routine, with soldiers receiving massages to release fatigue and pain while in training and games. Hippocrates is one of the Greeks that lived in the ear of 460-3080 BC, and he would become the Father of Medicine. He is one who found the advantages of massage on the body, along with all of its benefits. The wisdom of the Ancients comes alive in modern massage chairs!

The many benefits of massage include assistance with better blood flow, relaxation and flexibility, gentle stretching of tissues and all the while is the oldest form of physical medicine known to man. Egyptians depicted on their walls dating back to 2330 BC massage therapy. Greeks knew about the anatomy and physiology of the human body, however, so it is with Hippocrates that it was founded that rubbing can loosen or bind joints and muscles to aid in the health of an individual (Modernized versions of this can be found in robotic massage chairs).

Hippocrates rejected medicine as being a part of the supernatural and believed it was not the gods that caused illness, but rather learned more about the human body to discover its functions. He is the epitome of the ancient physician, propagating the birth of clinical medicine and introducing the Hippocratic Oath to physicians, making them responsible for their actions in their practices. With the Greek Hippocratic (Koan) school, the physicians there applied wide-ranging diagnoses and passive treatments, including massage, to aid the ill-stricken to recovery.

Hippocrates changed the way in which massage was being performed. Previously, when being massaged, the shamans would extend outward, through the limbs, as they massaged the evil spirits away. Hippocrates massaged toward the heart, rather, which in today's world is notably better because it rushes the blood towards the heart rather than away, alleviating stress in the body's systems. Massage, however, was held by the religious of the Middle Ages to partake of the pleasures of the body, so it became forbidden.

Ambrose Pare, a French physician, was the doctor who reestablished the practice of massage after the Renaissance. Per Henrik Ling, a Swedish professor of the 19th century advanced his very own technique that would become known as Swedish Massage. Near the turn of the century, Brian developed the Society of Trained Masseuses that would later change its name to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. The long ago practice of physiology by the Greeks comes full circle to be recognized as genuine practice. Massage Therapists today work right alongside doctors in hospitals and practices worldwide as the benefits have become well-known and sought after. Physical Therapists even use massage to aid their patients to full recovery.

When searching for a form or relaxation or to alleviate your bound up muscles, try massage. You can use the robotic massage chair that will knead your back into submissiveness or try a massage therapist or physical therapist and have them lend a hand in your recovery.