Massage and the Original Swedish Movements :: :: University of Virginia Library

GENERAL REMARKS

I. It is rather difficult to fix the time for a massage treatment. Dr. Mezger works only a few minutes (five to twelve minutes), but I am satisfied that he accomplishes more in that time than many do in half an hour. As a rule, use shorter time for a local than for a constitutional affection.
In the rest-cure some eminent physicians begin with fifteen to twenty minutes, gradually increasing the time to an hour or even longer.
II. The weakest person may be treated by massage, since it is a remedy so easily adapted to circumstances and so perfectly controlled.
III. The patient ought not feel any severe pain or disagreeable fatigue after the treatment. Should such be the effect, stop the treatment for a few days, and on resuming it regulate the pressure carefully.
IV. After each treatment the patient should rest for at least half an hour in a comfortable position.
V. The patient should be urged to refrain from excessive eating and drinking, and the treatment should not be applied within two hours after meals.
VI. The operator must breathe freely while, giving the treatment, and must be in a proper position, neither too close to the patient nor too far off.
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VII. The temperature of the room should be 70°-75° F.; the operator should always be careful to cover up the part massaged and avoid having any draft from windows or doors.
VIII. The operator should possess good health and muscular strength. He should be cheerful and of refined habits, and should have a fair education, with a perfect knowledge of the principal facts in anatomy and physiology.
IX. Massage treatment is an art which can not be self-acquired, but must be taught by an experienced instructor.
X. The manual treatment of disease ought to be regulated by the medical profession; hence the physician's order should be properly carried out, even though the operator be of a different opinion.
XI. A student of massage should have the treatment applied to his own body, by that ascertaining the proper pressure to be used upon the various tissues.
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