Massage Therapy is the one of the oldest medical tools known to humanity. In my opinion, massage therapy is amongst the most natural types of therapy available. If we think about our instinct reaction for pain experiences in different regions of our body, we will find that a simple solution is to apply our hands on the inflicted region and do massage. This instinct reaction gives us good reasoning to believe that touch has some therapeutic impact.  

Today as we know, healthcare practitioners offer to the general public both conventional and alternative methods of treatments. Massage Therapy belongs in both of these. It is widely accepted that any conventional medicine treatment in order to be recognized needs to overcome scientific research including clinical studies, be published and represented in the way that other practitioners can study and utilize these methods. There is no doubt that any type of therapy must lead to results. This is the reason why traditional Chinese medicine has survived 5,000 years without having to prove scientifically the different methods of various mechanisms.  

If we will overview the massage therapy industry in the United States, we will find out that most usage of massage is done for relaxation purposes and lately in treating sport related injuries in Chiropractic, Physical Therapy and other healthcare related offices. It is true that an increased amount of Medical Doctors have started to recognize the benefits of massage therapy but, a small amount of them actually believe that Medical Massage therapy is a scientific proven method of medicine which should be incorporated in treatments of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular system disorders, respiratorical, digestive, etc. Limited amounts of physicians know that throughout the European countries, there colleagues are trained on protocols based on the incorporation of Medical Massage in treating inner organ disorders, support and movement system disorders, etc. In addition, American physicians would be surprised that part of the medical school curriculum in many European medical schools, introduce students to utilize massage therapy and in some cases schools integrate hands-on work. The objective to this type of study is to introduce future Doctors to interact with massage therapists.

In past two hundred years, many Western Physicians and other scientists have conducted researches in order to establish conventional Medical Massage therapy. But in my opinion, a Russian Professor of Medicine specializing in internal Medicine, Dr. Sherbak, is the theoretical founder of modern Medical Massage therapy. During his practice, he paid attention that people who have suffered from different cardiac disorders sometimes developed referring pain in the arm, shoulders, upper back, chest, lower ribcage region, abdominal region, etc. In addition, Professor Sherbak also paid attention that the pain and tension in different somatic parts had appeared in other cases relating to inner organ disorders. He also paid attention that by massaging these regions in many cases the clinical picture changes towards the better. Professor Sherbak spent many years of researching this phenomenon, and he finally came to the decision that somatic parts such as the skin, muscles, connective tissue and periosteum which are sharing innervations from the same spinal segment, with the diseased organ, will develop abnormalities. These abnormalities include higher skin density, tensions of connective tissue, hypertonous and localization of pain in muscles (trigger point), and increase of periostial thickness. In 1913, Professor Sherbak also noticed that by massaging those abnormalities in the reflex zone, a practitioner is able to deliver the therapeutic impact to the affected inner organ and at the same time cause the disappearance of the mentioned above abnormalities in the somatic parts.

           Two German Physicians, Glezer and Dalicho used the basis of Professor Sherbak's work. After an additional twenty years of research and clinical experience, they established scientifically proven Medical Massage therapy treatment and in 1955 introduced to the medical society all around Europe, reflex zone maps for different inner organ disorders and support/movement disorders. After 1955, especially in the former Soviet Union, scientists have conducted many researches and clinical studies on the applications of massage therapy in different cases.

           Medical Massage is in fact soft tissue mobilization. The stimulation of proprioreceptors in the skin connective tissue structure, periosteum, and skeletal muscle sensory receptors are the initial link in the complex chain of events activated by massage in the nervous system, which express themselves in reduction of vascular resistance, activation of the capillary network, stimulation of immune system, endocrine system, etc. In addition, to reflex therapy as mentioned above, there exists a mechanical factor on the physiological effect of massage which leads to normalization of muscular tone, restoration of local blood circulation, breaking down of pathological accumulation, etc.

        Ross Turchaninov, M.D., Ph.D, (pictured left) from Russia published the first book on medical massage in english titled Medical Massage, a breakthrough in the States. In his book, he refers to very important scientific articles and other publications. To read Dr. Ross Turchaninov's autobiography, please click here.

        In my opinion, Medical Massage is a great textbook for any practitioner who is utilizing in their treatments, soft tissue mobilization. For the past 8 years, I have tried to convince Victor Gura, M.D., who is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine to try incorporating Medical Massage in treatments of different inner organ disorders and conditions such as hypertension. His continued response was, "Boris, please provide to me any published scientific material explaining your theories." I have tried to present to him translated texts of books that were written in Russian but his responses were, "The Medical Society of America needs to see written American text." Finally I came across Dr. Turchaninov's book and presented it to Dr. Gura. His response was, "All material presented in this book contained a scientific approach however, these theories must be proven clinically by studies." This book inspired Dr. Gura to conduct a clinical study on the Spinal Artery Syndrome. Today, under Dr. Gura's supervision, we are conducting a pilot study on the Treatment of Spinal Artery Syndrome. Spinal Artery Syndrome not only produces headaches but also in many cases causes high blood pressure. In this study, we are using the latest technology in analyzing patients exhibiting high blood pressure. The machine we are using creates a hemo-dynamics status report showing the patients complete resistance of vessels, work of the left heart functions, etc. Medical Massage is administered before and after the patient is tested under this machine. Currently participants in this study have received 15 treatments and hemo-dynamics status reports indicate reduction of blood pressure, lower vessel resistance levels, etc. I know Dr. Turchaninov personally and I think of him not only as a great scientist but also as a great hands-on practitioner.

In this article, excerpts of Dr. Ross Turchaninov's book will be used.

1.              How Massage Affects the Central Nervous System? " In 1965 Andreeva, V.M. and Belaya, N.A. conducted a clinical study of massage's effect on the cortex of patients with the cervical and lumbar-sacral spondylosis. All patients had different degrees of symptoms of intervertebral disk herniation with spinal nerve roots' irritation or compression. The authors examined the effect of massage treatment using electroencephalography to record and analyze the electric potentials in the brain before and after the massage session. The patients showed significant improvement in the parameters of electrical activity of the brain during and after the massage treatment. The electroencephalography before the massage treatment displayed the significant desynchronizing of alpha-waves and 50% reductions of evoked response to the visual (bright light) and auditory (loud noise) stimuli. After the massage treatment the same patients showed normalization of the amplitude of alpha-waves from 25mV until normal level of 50mV. The evoke responses were also improved or completely restored to normal magnitude." (Therapeutic Massage, Turchaninov 17)

2.               How Massage affects the Peripheral Nervous System? "In 1966 Professor Belaya studied the effect of massage therapy on the electric activity of major nerves. The author reported a significant increase in the nerves' electric activity. The major intensification (60-100mkV) was registered after friction technique was applied to the areas of emerging cutaneous branches of tested nerve under the skin." (Therapeutic Massage, Turchaninov 23)

3.               Positive effects on Cardiac and Cerebral Circulation. Akhmedzhanov, M.Y. (1981) examined the role of pericardiac massage in the rehabilitation of patients who had myocardial infarctions 5-12 months before. The authors estimated the effect of the combination of pericardiac massage and traditional physical therapy on the process of rehabilitation. The method of pericardiac massage was originally developed in the Yalta Scientific Research Institute of Physiotherapy and includes the sequential massage of all cardiac reflex zones. It starts from the more distant (from the heart) cardiac zones and slowly, from session to session, involves all of them into the treatment., The authors conducted the clinical study on 135 patients who were separated in 2 group. In the first group the 16 sessions of pericardiac massage were conducted daily before physical therapy treatment (bicycle training exercises). Thus, author's used the peripheral and cardiac vasodilatation effect of pericardiac massage as a preparation for physical therapy. In the second group the patients underwent the physical therapy only. The positive changes on the ECG (ST segment and T wave) were comparable in both groups. 31.4% in the first group and 24.1% in the second group." "…the authors considered the adaptogenic role of pericardiac massage in the adequate tolerance on increasing physical exercises as the most important benefit of the combination of massage and physical therapy. Thus, pericardiac massage, when conducted before physical therapy, allows the patient to quickly adapt to every new level of physical exercises, speeds up the whole rehabilitation program and increases its effectiveness." (Therapeutic Massage, Turchaninov 24)

        From my thirty years of clinical experience, rapid results with the use of Medical Massage occur when treating back and limb disorders. Any disorder of the joints, spine, skeleton or other parts of the support/movement system causes the developments of abnormalities in the reflex zones of the skin, connective tissue, muscles, periosteum. Eliminations of the mentioned above abnormalities causes immediate release of pain, increase of motion, etc. I have experience to incorporate Medical Massage in treatments of respiratorical disorders such as bronchitis and bronchial asthma- the results are extraordinary. Many European Physicians, who treat chronic disorders, incorporate Medical Massage Therapy as a treatment. The reasoning for this is that, if we ask ourselves about what our major ability to have impact on the healing process is, the answer would be that we have significant ability to cause balance in the functions between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The question arises as to what skills does a practitioner need?

1.              On palpation, practitioners have to be able to detect abnormalities in the reflex zones when they treat disorders. Actually, the existence of the reflex zone map makes the job of the practitioner much easier

2.               Practitioners have to be able to perform different techniques at the time of connective tissue massage, periosteum massage and muscular mobilization. These techniques are quite simple to perform.

3.               To be able to apply the appropriate level of pressure is very important. In some cases, this is very crucial to the situation.

The weekend of April 6th, 2002, Dr. Turchaninov will teach 16 hours continuing education of Medical Segment-Reflex Massage. Every participant will be provided with Glezer/Dalicho reflex zone maps. Dr. Turchaninov will teach special techniques for discovering the abnormalities within the reflex zones, explain the mechanism of the physiological effect of Medical Massage treatment, teach techniques for periosteum massage, trigger-point stimulation techniques and connective tissue massage techniques. During this seminar, all participants will experience a hands-on approach to the study. The seminar will start promptly at 10AM on both days and conclude at 6PM. The cost of this seminar is $225. Please bring a few bed sheets and towels. PRE-REGISTRATION is MANDATORY. We cannot accept any same-day registrations for this event.

In my opinion, any practitioner must be introduced to this special scientifically proven method of massage.

P.S.- In the past few years we have all noticed that many colleagues of ours are announcing the development of new methods and techniques of therapies. They are offering workshops and many of us are attending these functions to learn new and beneficial techniques that would help our clients. Many of these new methods have new names attached to them, i.e Neuromuscular stimulation, myofascial tissue release, neurokinetic therapy, bodywork, soft-tissue release and the list continues. Practitioners, when providing treatment, continue to use the names of these therapies. When the question arises as to how the neuromuscular stimulation happens, how myofascial tissue will be released, the answer will be- because of the effects of massage.

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