Massage for the Masses
These good benefits underline why massage is big business. The American Massage Therapy Association, which is a non-profit advocate for massage’s many benefits and is composed of its practitioners and businesses, says $12 billion was spent on massages in 2014 alone. There are an estimated 32 million Americans who have laid on the table during 2013-2014, the period measured by the AMTA.
AMTA research estimates the massage therapy industry’s total dollar volume at $11.7 billion in 2014, representing more than 300,000 licensed therapists and students. That’s a lot of rubbing over a year.
Massage comes from the French word for “friction of kneading,” which is what your body experiences when trained hands are applied. The art of massage dates back thousands of years, and representations of the art are captured in Egyptian hieroglyphics and Chinese scrolls. Massage is truly a universal art, and its benefits have been enjoyed for centuries before our time.
What kind of massage should you seek? The most popular is the Swedish massage, which is a forceful, deep kneading of your aching muscles designed to induce the ultimate state of relaxation.
You can also enjoy the Japanese version, Shiatsu, which uses finger pressure on various body points, much in the style of acupuncture. The idea is to relieve the blockages for the rivers of energy that follow through your body, restoring the balance of yin and yang that is so vital to good human health and mental alertness.