Father of school gymnastics

In the early 1800s, Peter Henry Ling (also Per Henrik Ling) was perhaps the first to discover what countless others have since learned in the past centuries: massage is critical for healing pain.

Though somewhat controversial, Ling is widely considered the "Father of Massage".

Ling's life work was developing a series of gymnastic movements to help relieve chronic pain. Like many massage therapists and body workers today, he used his own experience with pain and injury to create styles and techniques that formed the foundation of his practice and, ultimately, of massage itself.

Ling was born on Nov.

15, 1776 in Smaland, Sweden. His father was a so-called curate, a member of the clergy in charge of the town parish. Ling was a devoted student who spent his days studying with a strict tutor before attending school in the town of Vaxjo.

After he left s