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Medical Man Crush Monday! Per Henrik Ling and Johann Georg Mezger; Who really pioneered the Swedish massage we know today?


Per Henrik Ling (PHK) was born in 1776, he was a Swedish Medical Gymnastics practitioner. He's known for promoting physical education in Sweden as well as wrongly credited with being the father of Swedish massage. 
The start of Ling's career began in the early 1800's when PHK observed exercise and passive movements benefiting acute and chronic pain. PHK struggled with rheumatism and lung disease, he noticed physical exercise helping him manage his pain but that alone wasn't enough. He began pressing, stroking and kneading the body, he noticed these passive actions were showing change in a beneficial way! He had to share this with others, he went on to call it "Medical Gymnastics' and wanted to teach others to benefit themselves in the same way. He developed "suitable systemized exercises' that he felt would make the mind and body well. This would be the early developments of modern physiotherapy. Ling's passive movement's would later be known as massage. Other well known practice's that he referred to as medical gymnastics include Stroking, kneading, cupping, clapping and friction.  However none of the contribution's he made would earn him the title of the father of Swedish massage. That title belongs to Dutch practitioner Johann Georg Mezger. Mezger is also attributed with simplifying medical gymnastics and labeling them with french words. Maybe you know them? Effleurage, Petrissage and Tapotment. As you can see, Mezger took what Ling had observed and developed it into the Swedish massage we know today. 
Our first Man crush Monday deserved to be written about two men who contributed so much to the massage community, thank you for giving us our start! 




Citations: 
The Life of Per Henrik Ling
http://www.massagetoday.com/mpacms/mt/article.php?id=14291

Pages From History: Swedish Massage
MASSAGE Magazine - https://www.massagemag.com/magazine-2002-issue100-history100-24026/

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