After a week long of paperwork in the computer, calculating and adding up bills, making ends meet and catching up with deadlines, it is always glorious to get a massage. Once those tight, tensed and aching muscles are soothed, loosened and relaxed, it may seem as if the week long of stress and distress have magically disappeared in an hour or so of massage. Anybody is potentially capable of giving a massage as long as he knows how to rub, stroke, knead or press in the right way on those aching muscles. There are even devices, mechanical or otherwise which can aid a person in giving himself a massage as the business industry understands the need for relaxation in this day and age of chronic stress and distress.



In fact, a wide variety of massage styles are applied by masseurs or masseuses in spas or in home services using different techniques to relieve the body of stress and tension. This is basically what massage is for – relaxation. Massage therapy on the other hand has a more intensive purpose. Although oftentimes interchanged with massage, it must be noted that massage therapy is a different approach and technique. Massage therapy, as the term implies, is more inclined towards a therapeutic position and is therapeutically applied to promote body circulation, loosen strained and sore muscles as well as to prevent and eliminate pain.

Massage therapy, in most cases, can in fact be an augmentation and even a replacement for a more invasive medical treatment. Massage therapy is also utilized to treat severe pain disorders or conditions. Not anybody can instantly become a massage therapist. In fact, massage therapy as one of the fields of alternative medicine requires a license for a practitioner in most states. Being a certified massage therapist would also require accomplishment of a set number of class hours (approximately 500 hours) to attend and getting hold of a license would also necessitate passing a national exam first. There are approximately 500,000 massage therapists practicing in the United States alone and training requirements vary from state to state.

Massage therapy is a more credible approach for chronic pain treatment as it is basically an art and a science in itself. There are patients who have attested that massage therapy is more effective than therapeutic drug measures in alleviating and relieving chronic pain. In fact, there is a growing number of hospitals affiliating with massage therapy centers or directly offering the service to augment conventional methods of treatment. There is a wide assortment of techniques for this healing modality. For instance, the trigger point massage is applied to specific muscle groups that transmit pain to different areas of the body.

This is helpful for misdiagnosed medical conditions as the cause of the problem can be thoroughly traced. In this technique, patients have reported excellent results and immediate relief from back, neck and joint pain. Hot rock massages are also employed by using warmed stones to apply heat and pressure to dissolve entangled muscles thereby providing relaxation and better circulation. This technique has also remarkable physiological benefits. With the wide acceptance of massage therapy not only in schools and hospitals, but in offices as well, companies are now encouraging the implementation of therapeutic massage to their employees to boost their morale and improve their productivity.

For those who suffer chronically from carpal tunnel syndrome which is a common problem among white-collar workers, doctors and physiotherapists are encouraging the use of massage therapy. Massage therapy has been proven to have tremendous benefits for overall health and well-being, much more so if it is included in a regular health regimen.