Elizabeth Dicke

In the late 1920's a Physiotherapist in Germany, called Elizabeth Dicke, suffered from a widespread infection of the blood vessels, which affected the circulation to her right leg. She developed gangrene and her doctors wanted to amputate. As she had also developed angina, gastric, kidney and liver problems she was too ill for surgery and was effectively left in a side ward to die. She had agonizing backache and being a Physiotherapist started to massage her back. She noticed an unusual, sharp sensation with the massage and an occasional warm sensation down her leg when there was a sharp feeling. She was so weak that she asked a colleague to continue to produce these strange sensations. Within four months her colleague had Elizabeth out of Hospital and started back at work within a year. She had normal circulation in her leg and her back pain, angina, kidney and liver problems had all resolved. Elizabeth and her colleagues then spent the next 10 years doing research into the new technique that she had discovered, finding out how it worked and what it was effective in treating. They set up a teaching protocol for all physiotherapy students in Germany. The English name for the technique is Connective Tissue Manipulation.

Connective Tissue Therapy (CTT), Connective Tissue Massage (CTM), Bindegewebsmassage, is well known throughout the world but less known in the United States. It is slowly acquiring a reputation in the United States. The development of CTT and CTM systems of bodywork began in 1938 when Elizabeth Dicke met with Professor Kohlrausch and Dr. Tierich H. Leube to initiate research and training in CTT. They incorporated the work of J. MacKenzie who researched changes in muscle tones in relationships to organs. In 1942 Dicke, Kohlrausch, Leube and Mac Kenzie published "Massage of Reflex Zones in the Connective Tissue in the Presence of Rheumatic and Internal Diseases". Many General Hospitals and Orthopedic Hospitals, Physical Therapist and Health Spas in Switzerland, Italy (Florence), and Germany continued to research and practice CTT.

In 1954 the Elizabeth Dicke Society was established to continue the research. Currently the treatments/sessions are used for visceral diseases also diseases dealing with circulation.

Return to 2008 Hall of Fame
Return to World Massage Festival Home Page