The Miracle of Massage Therapy

If you've never had a massage, don't put it off -- not for a minute. In our stress-worn world, an allover body massage might be just what you need.

Just ask Ms. Connelly, a plucky 60ish southern lady. Her fallopian tube cancer became evident only after it had spread through her pelvis. The weeks when she's getting chemotherapy are tough; her energy is zapped. She's making the best of the cards dealt her.

"I have my achy days," she tells WebMD. "I get these knots in my neck, in my back."

Massage helps relieve that tension, but it also does much more, says Becky Getz, RN, CMT, who is Connelly's massage therapist at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Va.

Cancer patients like Connelly are often dehydrated, and a chemotherapy treatment causes areas of the body to become stiff, Getz tells WebMD. "I think massage helps bring chemotherapy, fluids, into the body a little more gently."

In fact, Getz works with many cancer patients long after their treatment -- soothing the dryness, tightness, and pain that surgery leaves behind. "Sometimes the effects of cancer last for years," she tells WebMD.

That's not all. Studies have shown that massage helps with all sorts of conditions -- arthritis, gastrointestinal problems, premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms. Alzheimer's patients and kids with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also benefit from massage.

Even more interesting: Kids with diabetes have more normal blood sugar levels after massage. Premature babies gain weight faster when they're massaged. Massage eases depression, keeps depressed mothers from giving birth too early, and prevents postpartum depression.

Massage does much more than relieve everyday stress, and studies are proving it.

Ancient Health Practice Gaining Credibility

Massage is one of the oldest of health practices, found in ancient Chinese medical texts written some 4,000 years ago. Hippocrates advocated massage in the 4th century BC, as have doctors since then -- until the 1930s and '40s, when the practice was virtually abandoned as medicine became high-tech.

During the 1970s, massage went through a slight resurgence -- one that's finally taken hold in more recent years as healthcare practitioners become more attune to ancient healing practices -- and as Medicare and insurance payers have begun covering it.

"We believe in it in our clinic," says Ka-Kit Hui, MD, director of the Center for East-West Medicine at UCLA School of Medicine. "We believe it does more than just help people feel better."

In Chinese medicine, massage is called acupressure, he tells WebMD. In essence, massage and acupressure both work with the body's own healing systems -- the nervous system, blood vessels, lymphatic system.

"The concept is to remove stagnation," says Hui. "When your muscle spasms, it's a form of stagnation. The blood is not moving as smoothly as it should, either because of internal stress or as a reaction to pain."