From Master to Profession – How Massage Entered the Hospitals

“One person can create an idea. But only when thousands build upon it does it become a profession.”

• Article by IMA Founder Jeppe Tengbjerg

When the Dutch physician Johan Mezger passed away in 1909, he had already transformed the history of massage.

His techniques were used by some of Europe’s most respected physicians. Royal families, elite athletes, and patients traveled long distances to receive treatment from the man who became known for his remarkable hands. Yet his greatest legacy was not the patients he treated.

It was the therapists he inspired.

Massage Becomes Part of Medicine

By the late nineteenth century, doctors across Europe were beginning to realize that massage could be far more than a relaxing experience.

It could help after surgery.

It could support recovery from injuries.

It could relieve pain.

It could improve stiff joints.

It could assist patients recovering from long illnesses.

As a result, massage gradually became an accepted part of rehabilitation at a time when medical treatment options were still limited.

For the first time, hospitals and clinics began employing practitioners who specialized in manual therapy.

A new profession was being born.

The First Professional Massage Education

Interest in massage grew rapidly.

Schools were established in several countries where future practitioners studied anatomy, physiology, and the classical massage techniques that are still taught today:

• Effleurage
• Petrissage
• Friction
• Tapotement
• Vibration

These five French terms became the international language of classical massage and continue to be recognized around the world.

For the first time, therapists could receive structured education based on shared scientific principles rather than learning only through apprenticeship.

Massage was becoming a profession.

From Europe to the World

During the early twentieth century, classical massage spread across Europe and beyond.

England embraced it.

Germany expanded it.

France refined it.

Scandinavia incorporated it into healthcare and education.

The United States began developing its own schools and training programs.

Everywhere, new textbooks were published, new educators emerged, and new treatment methods evolved from the foundations laid by Per Henrik Ling and, above all, Johan Mezger.

At the same time, Western massage traditions began interacting with healing practices from other parts of the world. Sports massage evolved. Rehabilitation became more specialized. Manual therapy continued to develop.

Massage was no longer a single technique.

It had become an entire profession.

Then Something Unexpected Happened…

During the first half of the twentieth century, medicine advanced faster than ever before.

X-rays.

Antibiotics.

Modern surgery.

New medical technologies.

Healthcare increasingly focused on scientific and technological breakthroughs. In many hospitals, massage slowly lost its central role as newer treatments became available.

For a time, many believed massage had reached the end of its golden age.

They were wrong.

A new revolution was about to begin.

One that would make massage more popular than ever before.

Coming Next…

How did massage go from disappearing from many hospitals to becoming one of the world’s most widely practiced forms of manual therapy?

The answer lies in the rise of wellness, modern sports medicine, scientific research, and a global rediscovery of the power of human touch.

This article also creates a natural bridge into Part 6, where the story can move into the modern era—from the 1950s onward—covering the wellness movement, sports massage, scientific research, and the beginning of the global massage industry that eventually led to organizations such as the International Massage Association and the World Championship in Massage.

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