massage facts

Fourteen percent of U.S. adults visited a massage therapist in 2008, and 42 percent have received a professional massage sometime in their life.

The Annals of Internal Medicine reported in 2003 that massage therapy was effective for treat¬ing persistent back pain, as did a 2000 report by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Massage therapy has been shown to strengthen the immune system, according to research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, 1996, and Psychosomatic Medicine, 2000.

A recent study published in Depression and Anxiety showed patients halved their anxiety symptoms and stress after a series of 10 massages.