• Massage in Folk Medicine

  Filed under Types of massage
  Nov 29

   

  In a list of our folk physiotherapy measures massage takes a respectable place. Massage was used in a wide range of situations: to relieve pain, to preserve and accelerate organ activity, to restore a disturbed rhythm. Of course, so widely used massage had to be varied. Indeed, gentle strokes as if with a feather (and sometimes using real feathers) and sometimes strongly knocking with a fist or slamming with palm or deeply tweaking. It was massaged in hot, warm or hot or warm (it is now said, at room temperature) way, it was also massaged in a cool or cold way. It was massaged with dry hand or with lubricants, thin or fat liquid oil or slightly firm lubricants. It was massaged by pure hand and fine or coarse stroking devices, applying physical effect or combining it with chemical effect. Certainly it is a noteworthy diversity, which could be understood only by those who had good knowledge of it.

  When and how to massage could be decided only by a specialist: stroking, lambasting professionals or the like. Various restrictions, so called traverses were also respected. Folk medicine knew passive massage when the patient wanted to rest quickly and was rubbed by another person and active massage when the very concerned person concerned used to massage himself. Active massage was more evaluated: then not only the disturbed place was affected, but other muscle groups are actuated while at the same time that improves the general blood circulation. Any more significant professional massage specialist was also a massage teacher. Thus folk massage was very varied and we can only review it very briefly.

  The head used to be massaged so that the patient would recover (after illness, getting sober, with high fever and rambling) when the head used to be dizzy because of vascular spasms or permanent vascular lumen narrowing. It was massaged with intense and rapid movements, but at in case of recurrent pain (when the pain is recurring in the same place), a massage, at least an intense one was not used at all. Head massage was also used for treatment against insomnia, high blood pressure, depression, bad annoying thoughts. Traditional hair care was also regarded as the head massage: weaving twice daily, combing with tree combs (rare, medium and dense), combing with bristle comb. Massage was equaled to traditional hair washing – shampooing. Not so long ago head searching was still very popular. It is more an easy massage rather than cleaning measure. Under the supervision of the hair – shampooing weekly and intensively brushing neither slow lice with sixteen rather than six legs, nor their eggs – nit could not remain there even though strongly attached.

  Head massage was started from the mid-forehead, where hair-stub (or their threshold before getting bold), and moved towards the back of the neck. Having concluded one band it was started again from the front and up to the under-ears. Depending on the massage objective the area around ears and ear scoops were gently scratched and intensely rubbed from the spine to the clavicle along the earlobe. As much as possible with the head back, with knuckles of joined hands are used for stroking under-gill from the ear to the ear – but much gentler than the neck. According to Homer, the Olympian gods as well in order to show admiration used to stroke under-gill to those who requested. This part of the neck is full of glands, so malignant tumors could be provoked by irritating it with massage.

  Back was massaged from tailbone to sides, down a little in the direction of ribs and from ribs (as much as possible under hands) across up and down, in coordination with the breathing rhythm. Thorax was massaged from the sternum down and to the sides and again towards the direction of the ribs. If the massage is to affect the heart rhythm, right hand is placed on the left chest side in such a way that the thumb close to the hand would reach collarbone and wrist would be on the sternum. The hand is pushed to the left hand while fingers move out outside the limits of the chest. It is moved down and back within two hands until the wrist comes back to the breastbone. It is moved up by one hand and is moved to the left. When the fingers rolled out from the chest, arm is raised, then it is re-placed and everything is repeated from the beginning. About 60 turns are made. Strength of pressures, speed depends on what instruments are used for massage.

  When it comes to massage the hands they are struck several times until the finger tips easily and slightly stronger back to the shoulder. Cup-shape folded hands are used for rubbing the shoulder joint for several times. Elbow is placed into the cup-shape hand and is slowly turned in the cavity, while the hand is being turned to the opposite direction. The wrist is massaged in a similar way – it is taken with two fingers and rotated in opposite directions. During palm massage the hands are rubbed one to another as during washing. Finger massage starts from the thumb. They are covered with bent hand and rotated in opposite directions. Then again it is scraped from the shoulder to the fingers and back. Massage always starts by stroking towards the fingers and ends by stroking towards the shoulder. If a strong stroke, slamming, tweaking is necessary massage is also started and finished by gentle stroke and the required intensity is reached gradually.

  The right-hand side of the abdomen (liver area) used to be gentle struck clockwise. The left side used to also be struck clockwise by more intensely or gently pressing with fist or even slamming. Starting with the right hand it was moved from the hole towards the left hip through the fist down and back to the hole. If massage is intensive, it begins and ends with gentle movements. Intestine is massaged from hole towards the left hip, down to the stomach, abdomen, and through the abdomen to the right hip and along the right side back to the hole and the same as stomach for 40-60 times. Slowly or fast, by caressing, with medium or deep pressure of fist of slamming – as it is necessary in the case.

  Foot massage is very little different from the hand massage, only the knee and tarsus are taken with both hands, and fingers – all at once rubbed between the two hands. If the knee should be exclusively massaged it is massaged with right-hand turning clockwise, and if it is necessary to press stronger, the left hand is placed on the right hand.

  Hot massage aid is a broom. The most commonly used brooms were birch, tied at the time when the birch leaves have grown, but still smell and are a bit sticky. At the time the branches are also slender and strong. Good broom must be dried simply but dried in the shelter that light would not catch it so that the air could easily move there. Be sure to grip and hang the broom upside down. The birch broom is a good tool for lambasting oneself, strike the skin, and irritate it, but not too much. It disinfects it, removes worn skin layer and makes it softer. This is enough to maintain healthy skin, for prevention and is sufficient for a little bit tired skin when it needs to work more because of kidney illnesses. When the skin is very sensitive, husky, and dry – lime tree would be used and when the skin perspires too much and is too oily – one used to be slammed with oak brooms. Sometimes the skin itches even though there are no scabies and there is pain, though the skin is undamaged, or is very sensitive to any external influences. Such skin was hit by hardwood brooms. Willow broom was applied if the herpes occurred. Insensitive, dead skin was hit by multiannual fine grained knapweed, sometimes even thistle or juniper was used. Both brooms of this kind were like a connection between the needle and injection therapy, because after spiking lambasting oil was used.

  Brooms used to be immersed into hot water, but very often an alkaline of birch ash, decoction of different herbs. Some of the brooms were used for whipping the whole body, the others were hit only in certain places, for example, fern, and bracken leaf brooms were used for hitting aching joints if the reason for pain was cold or rheumatism, etc. chronic disease, usually rheumatoid.

  Folk medicine also knew other measures for skin stroke or scratching: simple or several connected slips, equal or ribbed rollers, brushes, loofahs. From just barely noticeable to so severe hardly suffered. Different things were used for stroking – even with stones, bones, very smooth and very rough depending on the necessity to calm or irritate. Some stroking measures can not be considered merely mechanical, for example, by stroking the skin with pieces of amber or longitudinal horsehair, small but frequent electrical discharges are formed.

  As various massages purposes, application techniques and tools, variable massage temperature was used. In some cases, one used to stroke with well heat permeable metal objects or pieces of ice, snow, wet rags (again, using rough, very hard-twisted or soft, loose objects), while the exposed place cools down significantly, while in other cases – cold or heated objects are used until the skin significantly warms up.

  The massaged skin location or massaged hands used to often be moistened with water or herb tea, bear, vodka, oiled in pitch or turpentine or oily lubricants. The object is selected depending on many circumstances: in order to stop perspiration, remove herpes or pain.

  Very often massage and lambasting procedures used to be carried out not in silence but in accompanying sounds. During lambasting ,,ūtata” ‒ was a signal to inspire,” aaatata – to exhale. The air was suspended in lungs during the period between pronouncing these two words. Such signal system helping to modify the breathing rhythm, quicken or slow down its separate phases was mainly used in case of heart rhythm failure and choke. In some cases stutterers were treated in this way when they used to block themselves while speaking. And there were much more complex audio signals, usually carried out collectively. A person suffering from depression or fear, some other annoying thoughts used to be lambasted in not very hot room, gently, while anther person having bath at the same time used to three or four times repeat some soft sound: chia, chia, chia, te te te or lia lia lia, chiu, chiu, du, liu, liu, liū and sometimes used to connect the noises ch, t and l. When the rhythm used to settle and as if filled the whole bath, the lambasted person had to repeat them together with the lambasting person. Massage – lambasting, accompanied b sound, always took longer.

  In addition to relatively gentle massage, almost drastic massage was occasionally used. This has always been passive. Two or even three people who learned to work together used to move the hands and press the abdomen and the area under ribs in a certain rhythm. In this way it was attempted to rescue them from severe breathlessness.

  Quite drastic massage was used for loosening of static or reduced joint mobility. Not one but several masseurs used to decide if “breaking” could help who used to check at first if rubbing does not cause deterioration. “Breaking” used to be applied only once in one location and used to be made only one time and repeated only after at least one year. After drastic massage gentle massage used to be applied for a long time. Very often massage was used for accelerated healing of breaks and trophic ulcers. From the very first days of massage gentle massage was gently applied on both sides of the fixed solid band or at least on one side of it. During the first days sedatives, decoctions, oils or juices were used and then – irritant, intensified decoctions and massage were applied. Massage was used also after removal of the bandage as dry or by immersing or lambasting, without oils or with them. Massage was also applied in case of paralysis. During the first days it was very gentle and later used to become more intensive and deeper. For sensibility and movement recovery not only rubbing (with hands, scrapers, horsehair rods), tweaking, slamming with hand, but also stroke with certain scrapers of different temperature, e.g. glass with hot or cold water were used. Sometimes a failing leg was massaged with the ankle or sole of the healthy leg. Trophic ulcers used to be covered in peeled horseradish, cabbage, broadleaf plantain, coltsfoot, olive or similar leaves containing disinfectants. Only gentle massage was used about 2-3 fingers from the ulcer. Very rarely oily lubricants, most often used by smashed leave (nettle, calamus, plantain, mallow) juice, honey, sap, sometimes the egg yolk or smashed liver was used.
  Movements of paralyzed limbs were used to be restored by rhythmic lifting. Hooks or special shoes with tapes at the heel and fingers used to be tied to the disk or lever (strong thin rod attached at the ceiling). The patient used to lift the bandaged hand or leg by moving the rope of the lever with the hand. By moving the tapes of the shoes in turns through the disk the leg would be straitened or bent through the knee joint.

  Various massages and bending were applied not only to restore movement failure, but also to slow down the muscle degeneration because of multiple sclerosis even though it was known that it is not possible to stop the illness, but it was assumed that intensively moving the limbs the health of the patient would be better and he would feel less pain.

  Even though folk medicine massage was very different and used in different cases it is not much suitable to amateur practice and is slightly less suitable than other areas of folk medicine. There are no more specialists knowing well when and what massage to apply, it is difficult to create proper conditions, e.g. simple charcoal-burner sauna. Even good broom is not prepared so well. Folk massages as well as other folk medicine branches remain a good cultural heritage.

  And this heritage should not be placed only in museums. It also gives valuable elements to the modern physiotherapy. Our health resort specialists started to use this source and most probably will use it in the future even more intensely even though much knowledge is necessary in order to transport the old methods to the current conditions.

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