B28 – Apply Stone Therapy Massage
Kimberley Johnson
1. Research the history and origins of stone therapy massage and how it may be incorporated with other therapy related treatments.
Massage is one of the oldest forms of hands-on-healing known, people from virtually every culture have used a combination of touch, heat or thermotherapy and stones as therapeutic tools. The three main cultures, which have heavily influenced how modern-day hot stone massage has evolved, the Chinese, the Native Americans and the Hawaiians although Egyptian, Ayurvedic and many other traditional healing arts are also said to have used stones and heat.
One of the first recorded uses of stones for healing was by Ancient Chinese a medical practitioner who regularly used various shaped stones known as Bian Stones to treat disease. The use of Moxabustion burning of the herb mugwort helped to add heat to these treatments.
Native Americans are well known for their Sweat Lodges, which are similar to modern-day Saunas. The use of heated stones on the lower abdomen to relieve cramps was another common Native American practice.
Most therapists who incorporate hot stones into their massage routine agree that the Hawaiians had a major part to play in how this form of massage is applied today. This is particularly true for Hahana Stone Massage. Customary uses included wrapping hot stones in leaves with certain therapeutic properties ti leaves and placing on sore muscles to reduce pain, like using a heat pack. .
Modern-day hot stone massage therapy is a truly unique style of massage, has been gaining popularity through-out the world after being re-discovered in the United States in 1993. The story is that a massage therapist named Mary Nelson, who was suffering from repetitive use injuries in the shoulders and wrists, was having a sauna with her niece and which had stones in. Mary picked up some of the hot stones and started
Bibliography: http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/FEAndVocational/WorkBasedLearning/BeautyTherapy/Level3(NVQSVQ)DiplomainBeautyTherapy/Samples/Level3CandidateHandbooksamplematerial/Level3BeautyTherapyCandidateHandbookUnitB28.pdf