Public Interest in and Use of
Massage Continues to Increase
Benefits of Chair Massage -From The Employment Times: "Many organizations face the stiff challenge of attracting and retaining good employees, as the most valuable employees can often take their pick of excellent jobs due to their high qualifications..." (1/21/05)
Working Long Hours? Take a Massage Break - From the NY Times: "About 20 percent of employers have some kind of dedicated stress-reduction program in place, surveys find..." (9/07/04)
Resources for fibromyalgia massage. The best information on fibromyalgia massage can be found at these sites.
Manage Your Stress: Ten Ways to Ease Stress Stress management helps illness. Basic tips for stress relief from the Cleveland Clinic.
Stress: How Can I Cope? - The key to coping with stress is identifying stressors in your life and learning ways to direct and reduce stress. How to recognize the warning signs and tips for handling stress from the Cleveland Clinic.
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This new area will share with our clients whatever we find that people seem to be looking for. For instance I recently found that many people online are searcing for a simple definition for "swedish massage" you will find one here. We also anticipate posting a Massage Therapy "How To" page in the next few weeks. Check back for updates.
* The cost of
healthcare in the United States is estimated to reach $2.2 trillion
by 2008 from 1.6 trillion in 1998. 1
* Consumers spend between $4 and $6 billion annually on visits
to massage therapists - approximately 27% of the $21.2 billion
spent on unconventional
healthcare in 1997. 2
* Consumers visit massage therapists 114 million times each year. 2
- About 18% of the 629 million annual visits to alternative healthcare
providers. 2
* There are numerous indications that massage therapy is gaining
acceptance and growing.
- Of the types of alternative care explored, people say they would
be most likely to use massage therapy (80%), vitamin therapy (80%),
herbal
therapy (75%), and chiropractic (73%). 3
- 54% of primary care physicians and family practitioners say they
would encourage their patients to pursue massage therapy as a complement
to
medical treatment. 4
- HMO members using complementary and alternative medicine services
rate their satisfaction with HMO-defined acupuncture, naturopathic,
and massage
benefits as high. 5
- 78 of this country's 125 medical schools - including Harvard, Yale,
Stanford, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins - now offer courses in alternative
medicine ... up from 27 in 1995. 6
- A total of 27% of the adult U.S. population reports having massages
in the past 5 years, 15% in the past 12 months. 7
- Massage has become increasingly popular among consumers over 45,
being used by about a third of this age group versus a quarter of those
younger.
Massage is also popular among consumers 25 to 34. 8
- Those who seek massage therapy from a trained professional average
7 visits per year. 3
- Many companies (e.g. G.E., Goldman Sachs, Young & Rubicam,
Motorola, and American Airlines) are inviting massage therapists
on-site as an
employment perk and as a means of reducing stress and absenteeism. 8
- Among organization benefits managers, 8% report that massage is
an employee benefit. 9
- The number of massage therapists is between 160,000 and 220,000, including
students. 10
- American Massage Therapy Association's membership increased more than
fourfold in the 1990s to over 41,000 members. 11
Massage Therapy: Massage Has Become Mainstream
* American adults are having many more massages than they did even
a year ago, pointing to a trend that therapeutic massage is increasingly
accepted and appreciated. 7
* Consumers visit massage therapists 114 million times each year. 2
* Massage is sought out by large numbers of people in all age brackets.
7
- 18-24 (22%) - 45-54 (22%)
- 25-34 (31%) - 55-64 (19%)
- 35-44 (25%) - Over 65 (9%)
* Massage is equally popular among men and women in all regions of
the country and across most incomes. 7
* Massage is popular among people with some college education (31%)
and people with only a high school education (16%), but more popular
among college graduates (35%). 7
* People earning more than $50,000 are having massages most often (34%).
7
* The massage explosion can be attributed partly to the growing population
of tired, aging, not-quite-as-limber-as-they-once-were baby boomers,
partly to an increased awareness of the effects of stress and of the
physiological benefits of "pressing the flesh." 9
* More working-class professionals are using massage therapy to relieve
stress and treat sore muscles. Massage therapists that once served
only elite professionals or athletes see a wider range of clientele.
9
* Doctors are prescribing massage to help patients manage stress and
pain. 12
* Among emergency room patients, 31% report that they have used massage
in the past for painful conditions. 13
Sports Massage Boosts Athletic Performance
* Many athletes are extolling the benefits of massage. 14
* More sports teams have begun to hire massage therapists. 15* Many
prominent professional athletes rely on massage to help them recover
from injuries and muscle soreness. 16
Massage Therapy: On-site Massage Offered in the Workplace
* The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami (TRI) has
documented the positive effects of massage therapy on job performance
and stress reduction. The research indicates that a basic 15-minute
chair massage, provided twice weekly, results in decreased job stress
and significant increase in productivity. 17
* A growing number of businesses and organizations offer massage in
the workplace, including the U.S. Department of Justice. 18
* At Boeing and Reebok, headaches, back strain, and fatigue have all
fallen since the companies started bringing in massage therapists.
12
* More than 80 companies, including many Fortune 500 companies, are
using massage therapy to counter such ills as musculoskeletal problems,
stress and poor ergonomic design of furniture. 19
* By including 15 minutes of free massage therapy once each week, the
Calvert Group, an investment firm in Bethesda, MD, reduced its turnover
rate to 5% in an industry where the norm is 20%. 20
Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM):
Public Interest in and
Use of CAM Continues to Increase
* Studies show that patients make more visits each year to alternative
care practitioners (629 million times per year2) than to primary care
physicians (386 million2), and most of them pay out of their own pockets
for the care they receive. 21
* More than four in ten adults in the United States
(42%) have used some type of alternative healthcare in the past year
and many report
a likelihood of future usage. Nearly one-half of adults in the United
States (45%) say they would be willing to pay more each month to
have access to alternative care, and most people (67%) believe the
availability
of alternative care is an important factor when choosing a health
plan. 3
* A survey by the Office of Alternative Medicine found that over half
of the conventional physicians in the United States have recommended
or tried alternative medicine. 22
* Studies show that better-educated, affluent individuals seek out
and use alternative medicine more than the less-educated and poor.
1
Sources
1 Health Industry Today October 1999, Vol. 62, Pg. 10.
2 Eisenberg, et. al., "Trends in Alternative Medicine Use in the
United States, 1990-1997," Journal of the American Medical
Association 280(18): 1569-1575 (November 11, 1998).
3 "The Landmark Report on Public Perceptions of Alternative Care" (November
1997).
4 "The Physician and Unconventional Medicine," Alternative
Therapies in Health: Medicine 1 (1995): 31-35.
5 "First Retrospective Member Survey on HMO," St. Anthony's
Alternative Medicine Integration & Coverage 2(8): 1 (February
1998).
6 Barzansky, et. al., "Educational Programs in US Medical Schools,
1998-1999," Journal of the American Medical Association
282(9): 840-846 (September 1, 1999).
7 "Public Attitudes Towards Massage Study," Caravan
Opinion Research Corporation International (August 1999).
8 "Pressing The Flesh," New York 31(1): 36-40 (January
12, 1998).
9 "Society for Human Resource Management 2000 Benefits Survey" (April
4, 2000).
10 AMTA Market Analysis Exhibit II (January 1999).
11 AMTA Member Growth (December 1999).
12 "The Magic of Touch," Newsweek (April 6, 1998): 71-72.
13 "Many ER Patients Have Tried Alternative Remedies," Reuters
Health (March 7, 2000).
14 Orange County Register (July 14, 1993).
15 "Sports Massage and Contemporary Trends: Interview with Robert
K. King," Massage Therapy Journal 34(1): 41-46 (1995).
16 Sports Extra, telecast on WBBM-TV, Chicago, IL (April 6, 1997).
17 Field, et. al., "Massage Therapy Reduces Anxiety and Enhances
EEG Pattern of Alertness and Math Computations," International
Journal Neuroscience 86 (1996): 197-205.
18 "The Healing Power of Touch," Life (August 1997):
52-62.
19 "Alternative Medicine Moves Into the Workplace," Alternative
Therapies 2(1): 47-51 (January 1996).
20 HR Focus (September 1997): 1-3.
21 "Alternative Medicine Makes Inroads, But Watch Out for Curves," The
New York Times 147 (April 28, 1998).
22 "A Closer Look: Integrating Alternative and Traditional Medicine," Risk
Management 44(9): 62-66 (September 1997).
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