Popular among all age groups, massage is effective for relaxation and stress reduction, as well as medical reasons, including muscle soreness/stiffness/spasms, injury, headaches, pain reduction, blood and lymph circulation and improved immune system function. Massage has been shown to reduce blood pressure and heart rate and increase endorphins, the body's natural painkillers. Doctors are now prescribing massage to their patients, and sports teams are hiring massage therapists as well. A growing number of businesses and organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice, are also offering massage in the workplace to decrease job stress and increase productivity.

Massage is more than a relaxing recreational activity - studies show that it can also aid serious ailments like cancer and chronic pain. The benefits of massage can range from physical, emotional, and mental - this type of therapy can even improve mental illnesses like anxiety or eating disorders. National Massage Therapy Awareness Week is an attempt to alert the public to the benefits and availability of massage therapy; it's an effort to encourage massage not only as a treatment, but as a healthy habit.

From allergies to posture improvement, massage can provide a wide range of relief.

The Touch Research Institute has conducted over 90 clinical studies on the beneficial effects of massage therapy. These studies have proven massage therapy's effectiveness in the relief of not only chronic pain, but also juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, labor pain, fibromyalgia, and back pain.

For more information on National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, or Pacific College's massage programs and clinic, please call (800) 729-0941.