Massage therapy is the practice of manipulating soft tissue and muscles. Its objective is to provide the recipient with physical and psychological benefits. By manipulating soft tissue and muscles with a series of orchestrated movements, massage is believed to produce relaxation and pain relief. Massage has been practiced in most cultures and since the beginning of recorded time.

The literal meaning of massage is kneading friction. Kneading is one of the most famous movements. It is done by doing a side to side squeezing action. This is similar to the action of kneading to make bread dough.

The use of massage can be found in the writings of many ancient civilizations. There are references in Chinese medical books and even references to massage in the Bible. There were references to the ancient Romans using it to treat some forms of disease.

Clearly, massage therapy has been used throughout the world to help restore health to the body. Many of these civilizations develop very different types of massage techniques. Each technique produces slightly different benefits.

Some of the most famous techniques are Swedish massage, shiatsu, reflexology, acupressure and many more. Many of these techniques can now be easily found in most parts of the world. They are also being integrated into massage chairs.

The practice of massage consists of applying direct pressure to certain points of the body. When this is done correctly it will bring relief to those areas. When exploring the techniques that massage therapy schools offer, there are approximately 200 variations of massage techniques. These are constantly evolving and subject to interpretation by the therapist.

In September 2004 a new study was published using the need for analysis of peer-reviewed scientific journals using massage therapy and the adult population. The conclusion of the study is that massage therapy provides a wide range of physical and psychological benefits.

This study monitored blood pressure, heart rate, negative mood, anxiety status, and immediate assessment of pain levels. Patients received a single massage treatment once a week. According to the research, the average participant experienced a 64% higher reduction in anxiety and anxiety over the control group.

The study also showed that it was effective in lowering blood pressure and heart rate. As a result of this study, the researchers theorize that massage may provide similar benefit to the psychotherapy model. However, researchers do not believe that the benefits derived from massage are slowly psychological.

Another study conducted in May 2004 and published by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine showed that massage was the ninth most popular form of alternative medicine. It also showed that 5% of the adult population used the therapy at least once in the last 12 months. The popularity of massage treatments continues to increase.

So far, there have been very few studies on the benefits of massage. The main problem with connecting clinical studies is the cost involved. Most companies have little incentive to fund massage therapy studies, as there is no way to control the methods for profit. This is perhaps the biggest obstacle to conducting comprehensive studies. Unfortunately, most clinical studies are driven by the profit motive. These procedures must be protected by intellectual property or there is little incentive to finance them.