Principles and pratice of therapeutic massage

199 Pages·2010·5.04 MB·English

by  Akhoury Gourang Sinha

Principles and Practice
of
Therapeutic Massage

Principles and Practice
of
Therapeutic Massage
Second Edition
Akhoury Gourang Sinha
BPT (NIRTAR) MSPT, PhD
Reader
Department of Physiotherapy
Punjabi University
Patiala (Punjab), India
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Principles and Practice of Therapeutic Massage
© 2010, Akhoury Gourang Sinha
All rights reserved. No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the author and the publisher.
This book has been published in good faith that the material provided by author is original. Every effort is made
to ensure accuracy of material, but the publisher, printer and author will not be held responsible for any
inadvertent error(s). In case of any dispute, all legal matters are to be settled under Delhi jurisdiction only.
First Edition: 2001
Reprint 2002
Reprint 2004
Second Edition: 2010
ISBN 978-81-8448-831-9
Typeset at JPBMP typesetting unit
Printed at Ajanta Offset & Packagins Ltd., New Delhi Printed at ....
To
Ma, Papa, Uru Didi
and
Babuji

Foreword
It is my proud privilege to write the Foreword to this edition of Principles and Practice of
Therapeutic Massage by AG Sinha.
Massage or manipulation of soft tissues is the oldest form of physical therapy mentioned
in ancient medical records. Of late due to several reasons Physiotherapists started paying it
least attention. However, learning the skills of massage is the basic step to achieve success in
specialised manual therapy techniques, as this is one of the main techniques that helps
Physiotherapists to develop the palpatory skills and sensory awareness.
Most of the books available for Physiotherapists are by the overseas authors and often
present diversified explanation of techniques, uses and applications. This always confuses a
learner as well as teacher and Mr Sinha, after performing an extensive search of literature, has
written this comprehensive book. I strongly feel that this would be of help very much not only
to the students but also to the teachers.
This book is a great boon for everyone concerned, as this is the first book on massage
written by an Indian Physiotherapist. In a situation, where massage as a therapeutic modality
is neglected or given least priority, I appreciate the author for his boldness to bring out this
book. This may catalyse others to write books on physiotherapy field.
I pray His almighty for the success of Mr Sinha in this endeavor.
AG Dhandapani
Additional Professor of Physiotherapy
SRMC and RI (Deemed University)
Porur, Chennai (TN), India
Formerly
Head of the Department of Physiotherapy
National Institute of Rehabilitation Training and Research
Cuttack (Orissa), India

Preface to the Second Edition
I am overwhelmed by the response I got for the first edition of the book. The second edition
contains several new information and discussion on the recent uses of massage. In the first
edition I mentioned that the subject of massage has always gone through the phases of
advocacy and denigration. The current phase is one that of resurgent advocacy. The advanced
technology is increasingly being used world over to examine its effects and uses. These research
on one hand are establishing the basis of its uses in several of the conditions where massage
have traditionally not been used by the established practitioners. On the other hand the risk
for the misuse/use of the modality is also fast increasing. The second edition of this book
examines these issue from closer quarters especially with regards to the uses of massage in
AIDS, cancer, hypertension, obesity etc. Information emerged from the recent researches have
been incorporated. Black and white photographs have been replaced by the new ones. However
the basic structure of the book has not been altered though minor errors of typography are
corrected.
I hope that the revised edition would be able to satisfy the inquisitiveness of both the
students and researchers.
AG Sinha
Preface to the First Edition
This book has been written for all those who are interested in the scientific use of massage—
an ancient mode of treatment for painful muscles. Information on various aspects of massage
is scattered throughout the literature. The available texts on massage, mostly written by western
authors, focus usually on specific dimension of massage. In those places where enough books
are not available, it often becomes a problem for a new teacher to collect the teaching material.
As a result of this the teaching of massage is often neglected. These problems, which I
experienced both as a student and a teacher, have stimulated me to work on this text. In
nutshell, it is an attempt to collect the scattered knowledge and present it in a form of systematic
and comprehensive exposition of principles, techniques and clinical uses of massage.
Divided into 11 chapters, this book attempts to critically evaluate the different aspects of
massage. It includes detailed discussions on the general physiological effects of massage, its
uses in different conditions and the contraindications.
The Chapter on Definition and Classification of Massage assimilates the similarity and
dissimilarity of different techniques and classify them accordingly. Different techniques of
massage are described in detail along with their specific effects on the body tissue.
A Chapter on the Practical Aspect of Massage explains the rationales behind the use of
different sequence of techniques and mentions the points to be considered while administering
massage. This intends to cater to the practical examination requirement of the students. These
two Chapters contain several photographs/illustrations to simplify the subject.
The essential features of the application of massage in different pathological conditions
are explained in a chapter, which intends to serve as guideline for the beginners.
The features of lymphatic system, quite essential for the scientific practice of massage
have been presented in a separate chapter. This chapter includes four charts showing
schematically the distribution of lymph node and the direction of lymphatic flow in the
different parts of body.
The important landmarks and milestones in the development of this modality are described
under the history of massage, while the Chapter on New Systems of Massage gives a brief
introduction of some specific forms of massage which are widely used in different parts of the
world.
Sports massage has emerged as an important modality in the field of athletic and sports
world. A separate chapter presents a detailed account of the various theoretical and practical
aspects of this advancing area of massage.
While working on this text, I came across a volume of literature on the topic. Out of which,
however, I could refer only a portion. These titles are listed out in References. The remaining
titles which are not quoted in this book, but I feel, can be of immense help to anyone who
wishes to know more about this modality, are listed in Bibliography.