Swedish Massage versus Clinical Bodywork

Swedish Massage versus Clinical Bodywork as a Career Choice …What Are The Differences Between Massage & Bodywork?

Notice this is primarily a CLINICAL & MEDICAL Massage & Bodywork Therapy School.  Yet we DO teach Swedish Massage as foundational to your training.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You’ll notice this and other pages indicate the focus of the Florida School of Advanced Bodywork is mostly on what many call bodywork. Many therapists and consumers use the terms massage and bodywork more or less interchangeably. But there is a difference in usage, explained below in this article.

Yet we frequently use the term massage far more often than the term bodywork. That’s because “website success” is in great part dominated by Google Search Engine optimization strategies. The term bodywork hardly shows up in Google Trends Search, so we have to use the word massage as much as possible so Google can understand what our pages are about.

Relaxation, Spa Style Massage

Many, possibly most, massage therapists practice one or more forms of massage that are very relaxing and healthful, yet general in nature. While modalities like Swedish Massage and Asian Bodywork (such as Shiatsu and Acupressure) are very useful and valuable in many settings, there is a significant difference.

Such styles as Swedish massage have been utilized in America for well over a hundred years. It was given a big boost by John Harvey Kellogg. In an article from Massage Today Online Magazine, (LINK No Longer Works) we read this:

John Harvey Kellogg’s accomplishments are impressive by any measure: Superintendent and surgeon at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, inventor of myriad medical and surgical instruments; the man behind the discovery of the therapeutic value of electric light and the sinusoidal current, founder of the health food industry at Battle Creek and last, but certainly not least, author of the groundbreaking book, “The Art of Massage” written in 1885.

Kellogg, a true “whole (or ‘natural’) health” physician, was far more than a massage therapist. Yet the system of massage Kellogg used in his practice, taught, and wrote about could generally be called the “Swedish” style of massage. Peter Ling of Sweden, a developer of the Swedish system, was acknowledged by Kellogg “for devoting his life to helping patients with research efforts into Swedish massage and gymnastics.” Swedish massage had a great impact on massage in America, but there was more to it than that. Again form the Massage Today article:

Kellogg spent many years researching his techniques, and was able to document the results of his hard work scientifically. He understood the value of massage and touch, defining it as “not simply an ordinary touch or contact of the hand with the body, but a skilled or professional touch. It is a touch applied with intelligence, with control, with a purpose, and simply as it is, capable of producing decided physiological effects.” Because of his investigations into the study and application of massage, he established beyond all question that “massage affords one of the most effective means of influencing the functions of the human body.”

As “modern” or “orthodox” medicine become more popular by the “quick fix” of drugs, surgery & radiation, massage, as well as other manipulative techniques such as osteopathy, naprapathy and chiropractic, fell by the wayside. Massage was even considered by many to be “quack” medicine.

And of course, the association with prostitution and other illicit activities became widespread and common.

In recent decades, however, massage has been making a comeback, but to a great degree, it is best known for the generally relaxing, long, firm stokes with oil, clients with clothing removed (but draped), often in a room with mood lighting and soft, relaxing music.

This is the type of massage work usually available in the Spa Environment, or massage clinics focusing exclusively on massage, where it’s all about general relaxation, de-stressing & tension reduction, pampering, and all that.

Sometimes the environment is quite luxurious and “up-scale” to accommodate wealthier clientele.

This kind of massage can indeed be very therapeutic, especially for generalized conditions of excessive stress and tension. Yet it is generally not very specific or targeted in its application.