Two thousand years ago, the great Roman physician Galen recommended massage, along with a healthy diet, exercise and rest, as vital to health and wellbeing. The Greeks incorporated massage into both sports and medicine. Studies show that massage is good not only for relaxation, increased flexibility and increased muscle tone, but also for better posture, increased range of motion, increased blood circulation,1 a stronger immune system through a rise in the white blood cell count,2 reduced stress due to a decreased production of cortisol,3 less pain, depression and anxiety,4 and an overall greater sense of wellbeing.
Swedish Massage is the best-known technique in the West, but nowadays, there are dozens of different techniques — Trigger Point Therapy, myofascial release, neuromuscular therapy, Jin Shin Do, Hilot massage, Indian head massage and Lomi Lomi Hawaiian massage — with names ranging from the scientific-sounding to the exotic. The techniques themselves vary from deep, sometimes painful, working of the fascia, muscles and joints to feathery, almost non-existent, touches designed to move energy, and stretching and folding of the body into different postures.
Clinical studies are now substantiating the healing promise of these various techniques, and comparative studies are being done to see if there are certain massage therapies that are more or less helpful for people with specific conditions, a formidable task given the exponentially growing number of conditions, the number of massage therapies available, the subjectivity of such testing and the general lack of funding for it.
Overall, though, studies reveal that people receiving massage experience fewer physical and psychological complications while undergoing medical treatments than those who do not. In the UK, professional associations, such as the Federation of Holistic Therapists, have created various voluntary controls and registries for massage therapists. There is a drive in the alternative and complementary health community to make massage not only more legitimate, but also to follow some official set standards and protocols as well.
But as the evidence shows, some techniques may be more appropriate for certain conditions or tastes than others. To help you choose the right technique for your condition, WDDTY has rounded up some of the most popular techniques and what they may best be used for. The oldest popular massage technique in the West and the foundation of many other styles of massage, Swedish Massage Therapy is one of the most frequently scientifically studied forms because of its long-standing reputation for inducing general relaxation, and lowering blood pressure, heart rate and other inflammatory markers of hypertension.
