Dental materia medica and therapeutics : with special reference to the rational application of remedial measures to dental diseases a textbook for students and practitioners / by Hermann Prinz.

  • Prinz, Hermann, 1868-1957
Date:
1913
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dental materia medica and therapeutics : with special reference to the rational application of remedial measures to dental diseases a textbook for students and practitioners / by Hermann Prinz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and rubbed by massage movements. If the therapeutic lamp (see page 428) is used in this connection, no asbestos screen is necessary for the protection of the parts. MASSAGE. ]\Iassage (kneading or rubbing) is a therapeutic measure em- ployed for the purpose of treating diseases by mechanical move- ments. In medicine it is known by various terms—kinesitherapy (motion treatment), mechanotherapj^, massotherapy, and, re- cently, osteopathy. Massage is one of the most ancient remedial agents, and in the form of medical gymnastics it has played an important part in the destiny of manj^ nations. Its systematic employment has been equally lauded in bygone days by the physicians of Babylon, Alexandria, Athens, and Rome, and, while Europe of today enjoys a revival of massage under the name of Swedish movement, the United States, the “land of unlimited possibilities,” has its modern apostle of the art of kneading in the person of Dr. Still, the founder of the osteopathic cult. Hip- pocrates, in his medical aphorisms, advises that “the physician ought to be acquainted with many things, and, among others, with friction.” The therapeutic results of massage seemed to be fully appreciated by him, for he declares that “'rubbing can bind a joint that is too loose, and can loosen a joint that is too rigid; that much rubbing causes parts to waste, while moderate rubbing makes them grow.” The Chinese and Japanese are thoroughly familiar with muscle kneading, and the marvelous dexterity of the amma san, the blind Japanese masseur, excites the surprise and admiration of the western visitor. Even the aboriginal in- habitants of Africa and the South Sea islands practice massage in one form or another, and it is quite fashionable in Honolulu to be “lomi-lomied” after a hearty meal. Relative to this practice of massage, Nordhoff, in his description of the Sandwich Islands, makes the following statement: “Whenever you stop for lunch or for the night, if there are native people near, you will be greatly refreshed by the application of the lomi-lomi. Almost every- where you will find some one skilled in this peculiar and, to tired muscles, delightful and refreshing treatment. To be lomi-lomied.