Massage Has Health Benefits Because It Feels Good

FreeImages.com/tim & annette

Whether you read clinical studies or talk to your friends who love massage, the answer will be the same: Massage is beneficial for health.

Time magazine reported in 2018,

But most people only care if—not how—massage works. While the latter is really a question for medical researchers, the existing evidence indicates that, for a range of health conditions, it does.

“You Asked: Do Massages Have Real Health Benefits?” Time (January 3, 2018)

Researchers are not certain how massage helps. That’s because research studies try to offset the placebo effect, and that effect is a key component of massage.

In fact, we count on the placebo effect to help us help you. Being touched and cared for in a safe, comfortable setting helps clients feel better.

Massage is palliative. That is, we as massage therapists offer clients relief and comfort without addressing (or sometimes even knowing) the medical or other underlying causes of clients’ discomfort or disease.

Massage that feels good soothes your nervous system in the moment. It leaves you feeling better after the massage has ended. It reminds you that feeling better is possible. That paves the way to choosing to feel better again and again until your overall condition improves.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”

And that is beneficial for your health.