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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