Modern research, such as studies by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami Medical School, have demonstrated that massage helps reduce the effects of stress and promotes well-being in a number of ways.

Therapeutic massage has become well known as one of the best ways to deal with the overload of stress so common in today’s world. Stress is inevitable and can inspire us to do our best, but when we experience an overload of stress for too long, our ability to respond with grace and balance may be challenged. Therapeutic massage can:

• give you a break from the buildup of stress
• promote deep relaxation
• provide relief from chronic headaches
• reduce anxiety
• promote restful sleep

One of the key benefits of therapeutic massage is improved circulation. Good circulation:

• is essential to bring oxygen and nutrients to healing tissues and remove irritating waste products
• can help decrease inflammation and pain from injuries or overdoing
• improves the function and mobility of the joints

Research has shown that massage relieves pain. Combined with stress relief, improved circulation may be enough in itself to help you relax and allow the pain to recede as you let go. Massage may also help:

• to stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's own pain-relieving hormones
• to alter the perception of pain by allowing you to focus on the pleasurable sensations of touch

Massage helps ease pain from injuries by:

• relaxing tension in areas surrounding an injury
• reducing the painful buildup of fluids in swelling
• helping to improve the condition of the tissues so that movement is easier and more comfortable

Massage therapy can help increase awareness and sensitivity to the body’s signals. Increasing your awareness:

• helps you know yourself and your responses better
• can help you respond to the requirements of the mind and body (for example, the need to take breaks at work or stretch after exercising)
• may inspire you to spend more time doing the things you love

Sports massage can help you prevent muscle strains and sprains, recover from events and strenuous workouts and heal from injuries. Before athletic events and workouts, massage prepares you by:

• stretching, loosening, and oxygenating muscles

After workouts, massage:

• soothes the tissues
• aids in repairing micro-tears to the muscles
• helps reduce swelling and improve circulation to tissues

Between competitive events and workouts, massage:

• helps increase flexibility with assisted stretching
• aids in the release of chronically contracted muscles

Massage can help a mother-to-be relax and feel more energetic during pregnancy. It can help:

• ease adjustments to physical and lifestyle changes
• relieve discomforts such as headaches, constipation and heartburn
• reduce the anxiety of caring for a newborn
• reduce discomforts such as low back pain

Massage can help boost feelings of health and vitality as we age. Massage:

• improves natural joint lubrication
• helps relieve tension in the muscles, reducing pain and allowing easier movement around the joints
• increases circulation, temporarily increasing physical energy and mental alertness
• promotes deep relaxation
• helps to decrease insomnia, high blood pressure and breathing problems aggravated by excess stress

Massage therapists offer personal contact and a listening ear to those that are frail and ill, which can help replace feelings of loneliness with those of connection and caring. Practitioners use gentle and flexible techniques, designed to meet a person’s varying needs. Often massage for the frail and ill is not meant to specifically treat a person’s condition or disease, but rather to address the whole person with soothing, nurturing touch. Gentle touch for the frail or ill enhances health by:

• helping to reduce swelling from fluid retention
• encouraging the healing of pressure sores
• promoting relaxation, which can help reduce the sensations of pain

If you are a caregiver, you may also enjoy a relaxing and renewing respite with massage. Massage can:

• relieve tension and anxiety
• ease fatigue
• help restore physical and emotional resources

Therapeutic massage offers complete relaxation and a chance to let go of the worry and anxiety that can result from chronic headaches. Massage can help reduce chronic headaches by:

• releasing tension in the neck, head, back and shoulders
• relieving pressure on nerves and blood vessels
• improving circulation
• releasing trigger points in the neck, head and shoulders

Although massage may not put an end to a migraine headache in progress, used between episodes it can be very helpful in reducing their frequency and intensity, especially with a series of treatments.

When received alongside medical attention, massage therapy can be immeasurably helpful to those suffering from fibromyalgia. Massage:

• stimulates the release of natural painkillers
• increases circulation, cleansing tissues of irritating waste products and fluid build-up
• reduces stress levels, allowing relaxation and a further easing of aches and pains
• increases restful and restorative sleep, which may prove essential to improvement
• offers emotional support when the stress of coping with the illness feels overwhelming

Massage therapy can help reduce pain and improve decreased mobility caused by arthritis. Massage:

• helps reduce tension in muscles that tighten in defense around painful arthritic joints
• increases circulation, which reduces swelling and cleanses tissues of the painful by-products of inflammation
• helps improve joint mobility
• calms the nervous system, allowing relaxation and the release of the stress associated with pain and loss of functionality