Massage involves acting on and manipulating the patient’s body with pressure (structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving), tension, motion, or vibration done manually or with mechanical aids. Target tissues may include muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints or other connective tissue, as well as lymphatic vessels, and / or organs of the gastrointestinal system.

Massage can be applied with the hands, feet, fingers, elbows and forearm. There are over eighty different massage modalities. The most cited reasons for introducing massage have been patient demand and perceived clinical effectiveness

Body Work
The most common known forms of body work include body-mind centering, yoga, the Feldenkrais method, deep-tissue massage and the Trager approach. Other methods can include dance, movement and voice. Body work is often combined with methods for personal development and body-psychotherapy.

The terms ‘massage’ and ‘bodywork’ are often used interchangeably, however bodywork includes all forms of massage techniques but also (as previously mentioned) also includes other types of touch and healing therapies. Any holistic treatment that involves touch, energetic stimulation or the application of vibration and pressure can be termed body work.

Massage Therapy
Massage therapy is known to be one of the oldest healing methods, with medical texts from as long as 4,000 years ago referencing it as a treatment method. Hippocrates (known as the “father of medicine”) referenced massage in the 4th century B.C. when he wrote “The physician must be acquainted with many things, and assuredly with rubbing.”

Massage is often referred to as bodywork or somatic therapy and is generally used to benefit and improve the nervous, musculoskeletal and circulatory systems (along with some others). It is known to positively influence the overall health and wellbeing of the recipient.

Benefits of Massage include the loosening of muscle tension, relief for aching and tired muscles, overall body relaxation, increased flexibility and motion range, lowers blood pressure, lowers heart rate, reduced chronic pain, improved skin tone, reduction of tension headaches, stress reduction, strengthened immune system, helps in recovery from illness & injury, improves concentration, helps in mental relaxation and promotion of restful sleep.