Most people who have received a massage need little evidence other than their own experience to convince them to keep seeking out massage! But for those of us with inquiring minds, and/or an interest in empirical evidence about the effectiveness of massage, we live in exciting times. Research on massage is burgeoning.

Rather than reproduce an expansive literature review of all the research in massage, let us just refer you to our Links page for detail, and here touch on some exciting highlights. Follow the links to learn more about the ways massage:

• lowers blood pressure by relaxing muscles and dilating blood vessels;


• improves circulation by mechanically moving fluid through the system and by relaxing muscles that may constrict the circulatory system;


• stimulates the brain to produce endorphins, thus decreasing pain and increasing levels of well-being;


• decreases headache frequency;


• activates the relaxation response, or the autonomic nervous system, which in turn begins the repair process necessary to fight the destructive impact of stress on the body;


• provides long term relief for chronic low back pain suffers. Researchers hypothesize that massage is an effective alternative to conventional medical care of persistent low back pain. Other researchers suggest that massage is the preferred alternative medical approach for back pain, over chiropractic care, acupuncture, and other alternative (or complementary) health care approaches;


• decreases anxiety and depression. In fact, one study suggests that massage may have the same effect size in decreasing mild to moderate levels of depression as does psychotherapy.


• Perhaps most encouraging are findings that massage stimulates the immune system, causing it to produce increased levels of cytotoxic activity (killer T cells) in order to fight illness of all kinds. This is especially promising for people with autoimmune disease or recovering from invasive cancers.


• Also, among women undergoing breast cancer-related surgeries, research found that massage prior to surgery decreased perceived pain and anxiety, increased flow of lymph, and most importantly to the women in the study, increased a sense of connectedness to their bodies after the invasive surgeries.