As you know, from 1964 to approximately 1985, the United States of America and the former Soviet Union were locked in an ideological cold war. The Soviet Communist government saw international sporting competitions like The Olympic Games and The World Championships as a possibility to show to the free world that the Soviet System was better and even the best (As you probably remember during these years most of the Olympic gold medals use to go to the Soviet Union).

In 1964, the Soviet government ordered 25 leading physicians to set-up a sports medicine research center. These physicians were also ordered to conduct various researches on how to improve performances of professional athletes. One of these researches focused on discovering the ability of clinical massage therapy to speed up the healing process in cases of sports-related injuries and recovery from consistent over-training. Lev Prilutsky, M.D. Ph.D., the grandfather of Boris Prilutsky was the leading researcher in this sport medicine research center in Leningrad (Today known as Petersburg).

After two years of intensive researching, the researchers developed a full scientific protocol on the physiological effects of clinical massage therapy on the human body. Incidentally, no one country has invested the same amount of money as the Soviet Government has on researching the possibilities of using physical methods of treatments for the rehabilitation of sports related injuries and the rehabilitation of professional athletes from over-training. The results of this research clinically proved that clinical massage therapy is very effective in the treatment of back and limb disorders, headaches, stress management and preventive medicine. The researchers used the Siberian method of massage as their model for research. The Siberian method of massage, which is taught at Institute of Professional Practical Therapy, combines the best of both Chinese and European methods of massage. Therefore, our methods of massage and physical medicine combine both spiritual aspects and the scientific knowledge of the human body.

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