In North America especially, a massage is almost by default a swedish massage. In other parts of the world people simply use “oil massage” or “classical massage”, but we all agree this term is by far the most commonly used in North Maerica.

But why is it called Swedish? And does it really come from Sweden? Or is a misnomer, like “french” fries (when they should actually be named Belgium fries)?

Pretty much all history books attribute the creation of the swedish massage technique to a…Swede named Peter Henry Ling. Mister Ling was the founder of the Royal Central Gymnastic Institute in Stocklonm in 1813 and is said to have used massage techniques borrowed from many parts of the world to create this new technique that spread all over the Western hemisphere in the mid 1800s.

Funny thing is, there is no such thing as swedish massage and never was. Contrary to popular beliefs, Ling never used those techniques in his school and never talked about them! It is one of those historical mistakes that still persevere today

Actually, swedish massage techniques should instead be called French Massage, or French- Dutch massage if we want to be historically correct. A Dutch man named Johan Georg Mezger was the first to name specific massage techniques and used French terms. These terms are the basis of today’s swedish massage, or classical massage

So what are those four original French terms?

• Effleurage (stroking)
• Petrissage (kneading)
• Tapotement (striking)
• Frictions (rubbing)

These days anybody can associate these terms with the swedish massage techniques, created more than 150 years ago….by a French-speaking Dutch guy.