Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The massage therapy industry is continuously increasing. In 2009, U.S. consumers spent between $4 and $6 billion on visits to massage therapists. [46] In 2015, research estimates that massage therapy was a $12.1 billion industry. [47]
[original research?] A survey released in May 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health focused on who used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults during 2002. [6] Massage was the fifth most commonly use CAM in the United States in 2007. [7]
The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine is a primary medical research provider for massage and touch therapy, including pediatric massage and infant massage. Pediatric massage also can help manage chronic conditions such as asthma by providing relaxation and reducing muscle tone in the chest, back and neck ...
Other research has focused on how massage during pregnancy and labor benefits the mother by decreasing levels of the stress hormone cortisol. In one study, pregnant women who received massage therapy for five weeks reported less anxiety, depression and leg and back pain than a control group who received relaxation therapy. [15] [16]
Another Cochrane Collaboration review found that massage provided some long-term benefit for low back pain, and stated: "It seems that acupressure or pressure point massage techniques provide more relief than classic (Swedish) massage, although more research is needed to confirm this." [8]
Myofascial release (MFR, self-myofascial release) is an alternative medicine therapy claimed to be useful for treating skeletal muscle immobility and pain by relaxing contracted muscles, improving blood and lymphatic circulation and stimulating the stretch reflex in muscles.
This research received national media attention, including a New York Times article in 1986. [ 13 ] A more recent study found that participants who practiced progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and guided imagery experienced a statistically significant increase in relaxation compared to the control group. [ 14 ]
This is done using thumb, finger, and hand massage techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific [ 1 ] system of zones and reflex areas that purportedly reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work on the feet and hands causes a physical change to the supposedly related ...