Early forms of massage and bodywork were performed with no special equipment. Recipients might have lain on the ground, or on whatever served as a bed, or sat on a stool or in a chair. For example, natives of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) gave lomi-lomi on floor mats, and Japanese forms of bodywork were given on straw mats called tatamis. The massage and bodywork tables used today evolved from familiar European household furniture, like couches and tables. 

Ancient bodywork tables did not have some of the features now considered essential. They were as simple as a marble slab, a wooden frame with a cushion on top or a homemade wooden table with blankets for padding. 

At the Turkish baths in the mid-1800s, various hot and cold baths were followed by a type of massage. The surface that the patron laid on was literally a marble slab. In The Anatriptic Art, the author writes: "Under the dome there is an extensive platform of marble slabs; on this you get up; the cloths are taken from your head and shoulders; one is spread for you to lie on, the other is rolled for your head" (Johnson, p. 29). 

These marble slabs were called plinths, an architectural term meaning a flat, square slab that serves as the foundation of a column or pedestal. Plinth is also a term used in the late 19th century, and occasionally even today, as the word for a bodywork table. Thus, the term plinth provides a historical link to the old Turkish baths, and possibly further back to the marble columns of the Greek gymnasiums and Roman baths. 

Swedish Movement Cure

In the first English-written book about the Swedish Movement Cure in 1851, Dr. M. Roth of England describes the many pieces of equipment that would be found in a medical gymnast's clinic. These early bodywork practitioners used chairs, stools, hanging rings, vertical ladders, various kinds of rectangular tables, and other pieces of equipment to get the recipient into position for the active or passive movements that would be used to treat various health problems. Some were specialized pieces of equipment, and others were more like tables and chairs. 

One of the pieces of equipment depicted in Roth's book was called a low plinth. The low plinth, as shown in Figure 1, was a wooden slab on short feet, with another slab of wood propped up at an angle as a backrest. 

A type of low plinth, called a cushion-frame, was available in the late 19th century. It was a wooden frame with short feet (five inches tall). Half of the top was fastened to the frame, and the other half attached with a hinge and movable parts so that it could be placed at different angles. A moderately filled cushion was placed on top of the frame. This piece of equipment was used when the movements were to be performed with the recipient in a lying, half-lying, reclined-supported, sitting or kneeling position.

Figure 2, from A Manual of Instruction for Giving Swedish Movement and Massage Treatment by Hartvig Nissen (1889), shows how an operator would use the cushion-frame for positioning the client for back kneading. Notice the length of the frame. The receiver has to prop his or her feet up onto a box. One would think that the frame would be made at least to the average height of a man at that time. However, it should be kept in mind that in giving the Swedish Movement Cure, the receiver would rarely be lying down passively for an entire hour as is common today, and the shorter frame allowed for more varied positioning. 

An illustration from Natural Methods of Healing (1899) from the Blitz Sanatorium in Dresden, Germany, shows a variation of the low plinth being used for massage of the abdomen (Figure 3). Note that the short frame does not lend itself to good body mechanics.
The high plinth was a piece of equipment used mainly for active movements, or corrective exercises. It is pictured in Roth's book on the Swedish Movement Cure (1851). Figure 4 shows its basic structure, as a narrow table with footboards built on either side, and straps attached to the table and footboards to help in the performance of prescribed exercises. 

A photograph in Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture (1924) shows a simple variation of the high plinth. It is a table with padded surface tacked on, and is being used for a stretch of the hip and lumbar region. The practitioner uses a bolster and belt-like leather strap as aids (Figure 5, page 148). This stretch is from a bodywork system called physcultopathy, a derivation of the Swedish Movement Cure developed by Bernarr Macfadden. 

The Massage Table

Another precursor to the modern bodywork table is the simple massage table. Whereas the apparatus needed for the Swedish Movement Cure was varied, a flat-padded surface at the right height was the only equipment needed by those who specialized in soft tissue manipulation.
For example, in his book Scientific Massage for Athletes (1916), H. J. Fay mentions that "the muscles are worked, either on the track or on the rubbing board." The term rubbing board was used in reference to the older terms "rubbing" and "rubber," which is how massage for athletes, and those who specialized in massage for athletes, were described.

Most massage tables of the early 20th century were wooden tables with tops padded with a blanket, thin mattress or other padding covered by canvas or leather. Simple massage tables, padded with blankets and covered by sheets, in an army hospital massage unit (1926) are shown in Figure 6. 

Most early tables were not adjustable for height. Practitioners, or operators, would simply have the table legs cut to their proper height. Sometimes a platform a few inches high was placed at the side of the table to allow a shorter person to keep good body mechanics at a table designed for a taller person.

By the mid-20th century, massage tables could be purchased at medical supply houses. In The Massage Book (1972), George Downing describes the portable tables as being made of aluminum with padding, and a covering of either leather or a synthetic, Naugahyde. These tables could be folded up into what resembles an overgrown attaché case. The fold-up design has come to be the most popular design for massage therapists, who often take their tables from place to place in their varied practices. 

Books written in the latter part of the 20th century for massage practitioners outside of established medical professions would often have instructions on how to build your own massage table. Downing describes the simplest and cheapest homemade table as consisting of two sawhorses (28 5 24 inches) and a piece of three-fourths-inch plywood (2 5 6 feet). Then a foam pad is cut to size for the top.

Using the concepts of ready-made tables, Downing offers instruction on how to build your own table using materials that could be found at any hardware store. Many massage therapists who started in bodywork in the 1970s used these plans to build their own tables. These homemade tables, however, had one major drawback-they were heavy. They were sturdy, however, and I suspect that many of these homemade models are still in use.

As the field of therapeutic massage and bodywork grew during the 1970s, some talented entrepreneurs started building massage tables as a business. Over the years, improvements to the original design of the medical supply tables were made specifically to meet the needs of massage therapists. Features such as lighter-weight materials, adjustable legs, adjustable face cradles, width extensions, and strong and colorful covers are standard today. We've come a long way since the marble slab in the Turkish bath, and the bodywork table continues to evolve as the field itself expands and diversifies. 
 

Patricia J. Benjamin, PhD, is coauthor of Tappan's Handbook of Healing Massage Techniques and Understanding Sports Massage. She has been writing and teaching about the history of massage therapy since the early 1980s. She is currently executive director of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy, and can be reached by phone at: 773-477-9444, or via E-mail at: pjb@csmt.com.

Bibliography
Bilz, F.E. The Natural Method of Healing. Leipzip: F.E. Bilz, 1898.
Downing, G. The Massage Book. New York: Random House, 1972.
Fay, H. J. Scientific Massage for Athletes. London: Ewart Seymour & Co, 1916.
Johnson, W. The Anatriptic Art. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1866. 
Macfadden, B. Macfadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture. New York: Macfadden Publications, Inc., 1924.
Nissen, H. A Manual of Instruction for Giving Swedish Movement and Massage Treatment. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1889.
Roth, M. The Prevention and Cure of Many Chronic Diseases by Movements. London: John Churchhill, 1851.
Sampson, C. M. A Practice of Physiotherapy. St. Louis: C.V. Mosby Company, 1926.