Massage Therapy
Program
History and Future of Massage
Therapy
The ancient art of massage has been rediscovered by our modern
world and has only recently become mainstream. It was the
mid-1990's before professional sports teams began adding Massage
Therapists to their personal training staffs. Now, virtually every
professional football, baseball, basketball, etc., sports team has
a cadre of Massage Therapists on their payroll. The 1996 Olympic
Games in Atlanta marked the first Olympic competition where the
United States Team had Massage Therapists as part of the medical
team.
Scientific research into the various contributions of massage
have just begun in earnest and are bearing significant - almost
astounding results. Some of the most prestigious institutions in
the country are issuing credible information on this field.
For example: According to an American Massage Therapy
Association analysis of a study by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center and the Harvard Medical School, as published in the New
England Journal of Medicine in 1993, consumers spend between two
billion and four billion dollars a year on visits to Massage
Therapists - and just think how much more accepted massage therapy
is today than in 1993.
In fact, an October 2001 news release by the American Massage
Therapy Association (AMTA), states the number of Americans who
received Massage in the prior twelve months was more than double
the number that received massage in 1997 - over a 100% increase in
less than three (3) years!
Here is a smattering of other positive comments. The following
is from the 60th anniversary edition of Better Nutrition Magazine
issued in February 1998:
"A recent study by the Department of Health Sciences in the
Faculty of Human Development, at Victoria University of Technology,
Melbourne, Australia, showed that massage significantly reduced
test-patients' perception of post-operative pain over a 24 hour
period."
"The Touch Research Institute, at the University of Miami
School of Medicine, has found that overall, massage therapy seems
to have beneficial effects on infants and children with various
health problems including: abuse (sexual and physical), asthma,
autism, burns, cancer, developmental delays, dermatitis, diabetes,
eating disorders (i.e. bulimia), juvenile rheumatoid arthritis,
post-traumatic stress disorder and psychiatric disorders."
"The Department of Management, at Bowling Green State
University, Ohio, carried out a study on the effects of massage
therapy on the stress levels of professional men and women in an
organization downsizing its employees. The results showed that
on-site massage, performed while the person was sitting in a chair,
for as little as 15 minutes once a week over a six-week period,
decreased stress levels. In fact, the residual effects lasted for
two to three weeks after the test was completed."
One of the biggest and most beneficial phenomenons in massage
circles is the recent and unprecedented acceptance of Massage
Therapy by the mainstream Medical community. It has become
commonplace to find Licensed Massage Therapists working with
Chiropractic Physicians and receiving referrals from Medical
Doctors.
Indeed, Massage Therapy has arrived and the knowledge of its
benefits is growing unbelievably quickly. In our Student Clinic, we
see people, almost on a daily basis, who are having their first
massage and most of them come to us through word of mouth. The last
statistics we saw stated that 80 percent of the adults in the
country have never had a massage, and there are no statistics on
children and infants - so our untapped potential is great indeed.
We are in a field that has achieved wide acceptance and over the
next several years will experience unparalleled growth.
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