Michelle suffered from carpel tunnel syndrome. She worked on the packing line at Wampler Foods in Virginia trimming the bone and gristle for 330 chicken breasts a day. Her right hand began going numb and the wrist pain made it difficult to move her hand. Cortisone shots were unsuccessful. After visiting the company massage therapist, she was back at work in a few weeks. In 1990, the company instituted massage, job-specific exercises, and ergonomics. Repetitive-stress injuries decreased by 75 percent and work attendance increased. Nobody wanted to miss work on his or her massage day.

As Michelle experienced, massage is more than an indulgence-it can relieve pain. This gentle therapy has been around since the dawn of time. Hipprocrates, the father of medicine advocated massage. When combined with medical attention, it helps heal certain conditions and prevents their return.

In fact, new research suggests regular massage therapy can help major health benefits. Massage can enhance the movement of fluids through our systems, which is fundamental for the body to function well. This movement of blood and lymph supports each and every cell of the body, carrying nutrients, oxygen, hormones, antibodies and water to each cell, as well as carrying waste products away. Any call can be enhanced, weakened or destroyed by this movement, or lack of it.

By dispersing fluids, massage can ease the inflammation that follows sprains and other injuries (although it shouldn't be used the first day or two afterwards). Skilled hands can increase the fluids after a competitive run, easing the pain of overuse. During a mastectomy, the lymph nodes are removed and lymphatic fluid can collect in the arm, causing swelling. "Other than massage, there is no really good treatment," says Dr. Chester Plotkin, director of the Lymph Edema Center at the University Hospitals of Cleveland.

At the Touch Research Institute, massage has been researched on a variety of groups. In a groundbreaking study in 1986, Tiffany Field, Ph.D., showed that premature infants, who received massage for 15 minutes, three times a day, gained 47 percent more weight and got out of the hospital six days earlier. "Touch with pressure is a major stimulus to the central nervous system," says Dr. Field. "It puts people in a very relaxed state; your heart rate slows down, your blood pressure decreases. Things that are aroused by stress are diminished by this rubbing that people feel when they are massaged."

Massage can also stimulate nerves that carry messages from the skin and muscles to the brain. A five-week study done on the effects of massage in the workplace in 1996 showed it reduced anxiety and enhanced alertness. The individuals who were massaged twice a week completed a math test in half the time with half the errors and their stress hormones decreased by 25 percent in 1998, at Bowling Green State University, a 15-minute chair massage significantly reduced blood pressure.

Massage is not a single discipline, but a family of related arts, each offering different advantages. There are limitless ways to apply this ancient art. Swedish massage, with its long soothing strokes, can ease tension and stress after a long day at work. If you suffer a painful spasm or need to recondition an injured joint, "deep tissue massage" can provide relief. After warming the tissues, deeper pressure is used to identify tightness in the deeper tissues. Trigger-point or neuromuscular massage can help relieve pain by identifying the muscles, tendons and ligaments involved to locate the point of pain and release it.

Like exercise, massage does more for you when you engage in it regularly. Even a monthly treatment can help maintain general health. "Touch is basic to survival," says Elliot Greene, past president of AMTA. Dr. Nancy Snyderman of ABC News says: "massage is to a body like a tune-up is to a car. Massage is a little bit of good medicine."

To meet the needs of each person, most massage therapists combine techniques for the best results. Look for someone who is nationally certified and/or a member of a professional organization, which shows they completed a minimum of 500 hours of education and continuing education.