Technique

The Story of Massage: Kellogg's Blueprint

By Patricia J. Benjamin
March/April 2016
MA_16_Story_Main_Wringing_1600
Kellogg's wringing type of kneading technique.
MA_16_Story_Secondary1_Kneading_1600
Kellogg's fulling or "superficial kneading" technique.
"John Harvey Kellogg (1852–1943), founder of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the famous cereal brand, holds a special place in massage therapy history because of his influential book The Art of Massage, which was first published in 1895. His book was a practical manual written initially for medical and nursing students, but was soon adopted by independent massage practitioners as well. Kellogg’s organization of techniques into seven categories provided a useful blueprint for defining hands-on skills. It became the template for Swedish massage across generations of practitioners."

—Excerpted from The Emergence of the Massage Therapy Profession in North America (Curties-Overzet, 2015) by Patricia J. Benjamin. Find it at www.curties-overzet.com.

MA_16_Story_Secondary3_KelloggMayoBros_1600
John Kellogg (shown between colleagues William and Charles Mayo) had great influence on the profession when he organized massage techniques. The above photos from his book, The Art of Massage, depict his "kneading" category (wringing, rolling, and superficial kneading). Images used with permission.

You may also like

Latest