I have never massaged a bruise, but apparently some people believe that it works to get rid of bruising. The article below comes from 1894. It is placed here for historical research purposes only and is not relevant, up-to-date medical advice.
Massage Cures
Sprains and Bruises Treated Most Effectually By Rubbing the Injured Parts
A professional friend surprised me yesterday by saying he wondered why men wore black eyes when there was no necessity for it.
Half an hour of massage, judiciously applied, after the injury, he added, would prevent any such ugly condition. Massage, he continued, is a restful cure for many ills folk know, but to how many uses it can be put, remains an unknown quantity to the laity.
“But about the eye, doctor,” I asked.
“As soon as the injury is received, the hands should go at once to work. No scientific passes are necessary, just the primitive knowledge of how to rapidly and firmly move the fingers over a given spot. In ten minutes the ‘blueness’ is fading and at the end of thirty minutes no ‘blackness’ is visible. It is better and surer treatment far than any amount of raw beef, salves or poultices.”
This method does not only apply to the eye, but is good for any blow or fall which produces “blue mark.”
Should a child tumble down and limbs or back be hurt, nothing one can apply, will as quietly prevent coagulation of blood or soreness as instant massage.
The why and wherefore is quite simple yet wise. The blood is congested as the skin is struck, especially in soft boneless places of the body. The clots prevent newer and better blood passing into the bruised veins, and the transparent skin reveals the dark condition. Manipulation of his skin by the fingers presses the fresh blood into the bruised place; it loosens the clotted blood and carries it off, thus restoring a normal circulation.
This remedy is so simple that it will possibly be forgotten, but it is a rather good bit of wisdom to keep stored away for time of emergency.
Many physicians are applying massage for fractures and especially for sprains.
I saw a woman who had a bony growth between the joints of the wrists and who had to submit to its being broken, undergoing frequent massage for its cure. It was the only medicine applied.
Also nothing so effective for a sprained ankle. The patient should, if possible, rub the joint of the ankle all the time, and have massage delivered by others four or six times a day. Not only is the cure as speedy as under other doctoring, but also the constant relief afforded to the sorceress reacts on the nervous system. The same method applies to a sprained wrist, or shoulder, and it is excellent in case of a sprained back.
In the case of fractures massage is being applied in the place of splints. True, all patients do not prefer it, for constant friction of the hand on a very sore spot is not always soothing. It creates frequently intense pain for awhile, but the sensation is not lasting. However, some physicians claim that splints, as mechanical apparatus for perverted bones, is disadvantageous, because it weakens. The muscles are “shelved” for the time being, and the blood is not in good circulation; whereas in the instance of massage, all functions are stimulated by the quick circulation, into which the blood is put.
Source: The Salt Lake Herald. Newspaper. October 28, 1894.
