Massage therapy  means many things to many people. In fact, a
recently published scholarly article identifies more than 80
different styles of massage, many of which have been developed
in the past 30 years! But to start, let's simply define massage
as the manual manipulation of soft body tissues (muscle,
connective tissue, tendons, and ligaments) to enhance health and
wellbeing. This definition excludes some kinds of bodywork, such
as craniosacral therapy , Traeger, and Feldenkrais. While they
are sometimes called "massage," they don't use manipulation of
soft tissue as the main therapy. This definition also excludes
therapies that are primarily energy work, such as Healing Touch
, Reiki , acupressure, and reflexology . Massage is often used
for specific reasons, such as relief from pain, stress reduction
, or enhancement of athletic performance. But whether there is a
specific goal or not, massage therapy tends to increase the
general health and wellbeing of the recipient. As the profession
of massage thera