Swedish massage

Swedish massage

Swedish massage uses five styles of long, flowing strokes to massage. The five basic strokes are effleurage (light touch), petrissage (kneading), tapotement (rhythmic tapping), friction (compression), and vibration. Swedish massage has shown to be helpful in reducing pain, joint stiffness, and improving function in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee over a period of eight weeks. The development of Swedish massage is credited to Per Henrik Ling though the Dutch practitioner Johan Georg Mezger adopted the French names to denote the basic strokes.A Swedish massage is not related to the country of Sweden, where massages are quite uncommon. Most[who?] Swedes have in fact never heard of a Swedish massage.

Thai massage

Known in Thailand as นวดแผนโบราณ (Nuat phaen boran, IPA [nuɑt pʰɛn boraːn]), meaning "ancient/traditional massage", Thai massage originated in India and is based on ayurveda and yoga. The technique combines massage with yoga-like positions during the course of the massage; the northern style emphasizes stretching while the southern style emphasizes acupressure.

Traditional Chinese massage

Two types of traditional Chinese massage exist - Tui na (推拿) which focusses on pushing, stretching and kneading the muscle and Zhi Ya (指壓) which focuses on pinching and pressing at acupressure points. Both are based on principles from Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Trager Approach

The Trager approach combines movement, massage and education.

Trigger point therapy

Also called a pressure point massage, this involves stimulating hypothetical trigger points that may refer pain sensations to other parts of the body. Manual pressure is applied to these points. Trigger point therapy was founded by Janet G. Travell and David Simons.