History of Thai Massage
Thai Massage is a unique form of bodywork that has been around for many centuries. The art of Thai Massage was passed on from generation-to-generation among family members only. Historically, Thai Massage was used to relieve certain illness among the Royal Family to cure many ailments and diseases. This form of Thai Massage is known as Nuad-Rajcha-Summuck (Royal Thai Massage) or Nuad-Ruck-sa (Therapeutic Thai Massage), where practitioners is required to use mainly their thumbs to apply pressure to each of the trigger point along the Sen-lines. The use of elbows, knees, forearms, or feet, are not allowed. The treatment focuses on localized area where the clients (or patients) feel the most pain. The clients often experienced discomfort when acupressure is applied to each trigger point. After the intense acupressure treatment, the practitioners often massage the area with heated Herbal Balls to reduce inflammation to the muscles and to increase blood flow to the massaged areas. The clients will likely detoxify from a minor case of soreness to break-out of fever.
The more commonly known form of Thai Massage to the Western culture is the Traditional Thai Massage (also referred to as Nuad-Pan-Boran or Nuad-Chao-Baan). This form of massage combines stretches and acupressure to help increase joint flexibility and relieve minor aches and pains. Traditional Thai Massage is used among the commoners in Thailand. The use of elbows, knees, forearms, and feet, are common techniques used to leverage the pressure onto the clients.
The use of elbows, knees, forearms, and feet, are common techniques used to leverage the pressure onto the clients. Many agricultural workers who performed physical labor works, often experienced muscle tension and soreness and therefore taught their children the art of Traditional Thai Massage. Many Western therapists have mistaken this form of Thai Massage for passive yoga, which is inaccurate. The secret is knowing how to accurately apply pressure to each trigger point along the Sen-lines.
For the past 20-30 years, Thai Massage has been widely used for improving one's health and as a preventive measure. The main focus for this type of Thai Massage is to re-distribute the blood and oxygen throughout the body. Thai people generally enjoy the traditional form of Thai Massage as an alternative for exercising. Fearing that the art of Thai Massage will be lost, the Thai Ministry of Public Health a few years ago has structured a 372 hrs. course as a standard program on Thai Massage, to re-train and help the general Thai populations to properly learn a safe and effective skill to work in hospitals and clinics. The response from the medical community and the clients has been positive and widely accepted in Thailand.
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