Massage for Well-being

Massage and other touch therapies provide numerous therapeutic benefits, not only improving the physical condition, but also promoting emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being.

Touch therapy is a broad term for a large group of therapies that encompass touching or manipulation of the body, to promote healing. This group of therapies form part of the holistic approach of attaining and maintaining good health.

Almost every culture has a history of massage or touch therapy, using it with the understanding of its healing benefits. Pre-historic records, in the form of cave paintings from around 15,000 BC, show the use of touch as a form of healing.

Eastern touch therapies have been around for several thousand years, with records dating back to 3000 BC in China and to 2350 BC in Babylon. Although touch therapies date back nearly as long in Western cultures, the practice was lost during the Middle Ages, because of the disdain for pleasures of the flesh.

There was a revival of massage in the sixteenth century, after French physician Ambrois Pare, wrote about its benefits on broken joints. Swedish gymnast, Per Henry Ling popularised massage in the nineteenth century, believing movement skills in students would improve, with better posture. This type of massage, known as Swedish massage, is the basis of many Western styles touch therapies, and is the defining line between Western and Eastern styles.

Many Western therapies use techniques like kneading, hacking, squeezing, pinching, and stroking, to promote healing and balance, while Eastern methods work by stimulating specific pressure points along pathways, called meridians, thus restoring the flow of Qi (vital force) to alleviate various ailments. However, there is some convergence of techniques across many styles of touch therapies, especially as new ones develop.

Massage is one of the most versatile touch therapies and is often integrated into many styles of therapy. There are various types of massage, each with a special focus and benefits. A full body massage helps release general muscle tension, aids relaxation and releases anxiety.

Remedial massage aims to heal specific conditions, such as muscle injuries. Biodynamic massage helps release energy bound up in the muscles and gut, thus improving emotional well-being. Lymphatic massage promotes better health, by stimulating the lymphatic system to speed the removal of waste products. Intuitive massage uses slow meditative movements, treating the individual as a whole, although many touch therapies use this philosophy.

Massage can directly treat sports injuries, headaches, neck pain, back pain, repetition strain injury, and can benefit other conditions and illnesses like asthma, eating disorders, drug addiction, cancer, as well as patients who are HIV positive, by stimulating the body to aid the healing process.

On a mechanical level, tissue fluid interchange increases, and fluid balance maintained through the regulation of lymphatic and capillary systems. Circulation improves, helping remove the waste products that cause inflammation and fatigue.

However, massage is not only a mechanical means of healing the physical body. Massage releases endorphins, helping to achieve emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being.

The skin is so much more than a waterproof, insulating, external covering. Along with our other sensory organs, it connects us to the world and each other. Touch is the first of the senses to develop in an unborn child.

A newborn baby develops a sense of love through touch, such as stroking and cuddling. Touching helps create a closer relationship between a parent and infant, giving the newborn child a sense of safety, thus improving emotional well-being. Premature babies gain weight and progress faster with regular massage, a testimony to its power.

Our skin continually receives messages from stimulus in our surroundings. Toddlers spend many hours exploring their tactile world as a way of understanding it. It is through our skin that we react to external stimuli, like pressure and temperature. The way a fabric feels on our skin is due to our sense of touch. For example, sweaty and sticky, delightfully cool, warm and cosy, or even sensual and sexy.

Human touch, especially from loved ones, is important for our emotional well-being, while research shows that lack of meaningful touch may cause violent tendencies in some people. Touch is an important part of a healthy sexual relationship, helping to connect with your partner on both an emotional and physical level. We may reach out and touch someone in distress, as a way of offering empathy and support.

Without the sensory capacity of our skin, sex would simply be a reproductive function, the feel of fabric or an animal’s fur would mean little to us. Massage would remain useful for physical healing, but serve little purpose at a psychological level.

Many people have regular massages for the psychological and emotional benefits that they experience, rather than to assist in healing a specific condition. Massage for relaxation and well-being is widely accepted, but this wasn’t always the case.

The therapeutic massage industry has worked hard to prove itself as a legitimate part of the health industry, and to separate itself from the sex industry. The association of massage with the sex industry goes pack to times when a ‘massage parlour’ was used as cover for prostitution. Additionally, it has taken a long time for some Western cultures to shake off the sinfulness of bodily pleasures, as promoted in the Middle Ages.

For anyone still uncertain about massage, there are strict codes of ethics that therapists must follow. Therapists are trained in acceptable conduct, and an experienced therapist can usually detect if a client is uncomfortable with a part their treatment. Keeping communication lines open between therapist and client, will overcome any client discomfort.

A client is usually required to remove clothing (for a full-body massage), retaining underpants if they wish. However, the body should be covered as much as possible, to respect the client’s modesty. Jo Ayres of Majestic Therapies, says the codes of Australian Traditional Medicine Society Ltd (ATMS), prohibit therapists from touching a client’s breasts or genitals, and requires that sexual boundaries be maintained at all times.

For some people, massage is an intimate experience, so sexual feelings and arousal might occur without intent by either party. However, a therapist must not take advantage of this situation, nor should a client mistake the situation for a sexual one.

On the rare occasion, an unethical therapist may offer a ‘top-up’, possibly under the guise of ‘spiritual release’. If you are offered a ‘top-up’, ask what it entails. Professional licensing bodies, like the ATMS, forbid the offering of sexually related services, and therapists involved in this practice can be deregistered.

Clients do not have a formal code of conduct; however, they should adhere to the basic principals of client/therapist relationship. Unfortunately, a few clients have expectations that massage therapists also provide sexual services. Therapists must look after their own safety, and it is within their rights to terminate a session if a client acts inappropriately.

Bringing sexual services in to the therapeutic massage industry may unfairly tarnish its hard-earned reputation. Massage for sexual purposes does have a legitimate place in society, either as part of a personal relationship or within the sex industry, but it must be kept separate from therapeutic massage.

Massage is an important function in the alternate and conventional health industries. The benefits of massage are measured both by its ability to heal physical conditions and ailments, as well as its inherent contribution to psychological, emotional and spiritual well-being.