While some consider massage a luxury to be indulged in once every few years, a growing number of people in the northwest suburbs see massage as a weekly or monthly necessity, one that allows them to move easier, think more clearly and generally feel a whole lot better about life.
”People become converted all the time. Once you have a massage, you`re hooked,” said Bernadette Alfering, owner of Massage Escape in Barrington.
”It`s good for people. It`s addictive and it`s good addictive.”
Among those who can unflinchingly pay the $30- to $60-an-hour fee, massage has snared artists, tired parents, corporate types, runners, recovering accident victims and psychotherapy patients. Massage is also used on dental patients, stressed-out teens, cocaine babies and healthy babies. For some, it is an integral part of a wellness program; for others, it is part of sports therapy, and for still others, it`s a stress reliever at the workplace.
”People are becoming more aware of the benefits of (massage),” said Lee Moninger, owner of Genesis Wellness Center in Palatine. ”It`s not just for relaxation anymore.”
Mary Parker of Buffalo Grove knows that well. She gets a massage twice a month to relieve the stress from her teaching job. ”(The stress) seems to get worse and worse and when you get a massage you can feel where you`re knotted up,” she said. ”If I don`t (get a massage) and I let the stress build up, it`ll take time away from me because I`m stressed out.”
Martin Ryan of Arlington Heights received his first massage five years ago while on vacation in New Mexico. ”I was skeptical of massage,” he said. ”(Yet) I was astonished in Santa Fe with the relaxation of it. When I have a (backache) attack, my muscles spasm and create enormous pain in the back and I find that through continued work (with a massage therapist), that doesn`t happen. What (the massage therapist) does clearly is make those muscles more fit and less subject to spasm and tensions.”
Nowhere may tension be as great as at the office. Which is why Kay Boshardt, a massage therapist at the Schaumburg Corporate Fitness Center, often goes to companies such as Intercargo Corporation in Schaumburg to perform 20-minute massages on employees during their coffee breaks.
”I think the stress of the business world is so high, so if there`s some means for taking a half-hour to get a massage and relax, I believe their minds are better facilitated to perform their tasks,” said Ken Kranig, chairman of the board at Intercargo, a firm that bonds and insures imported and exported products.
”I`m not saying we`re curing everybody, but we`re helping prevent problems,” Boshardt said.
Indeed, massage is all about drawing out that tension and whatever else people hold inside, while at the same time helping people get more in touch with their bodies, according to massage therapist Cynthia Oliver of Arlington Heights. ”Massage encompasses the whole body. You can`t isolate it out. It`s emotional, spiritual and physical.”
As the natural, nurturing image of massage rises in America`s increasingly earth-oriented society, so does the number of massage therapists. Moninger, a member of the Chicago-based American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), estimates that in the past year alone, the number of massage therapists in the northwest suburbs has tripled.
Membership in the 39-year-old association increased more than 500 percent-from 2,100 to 14,000 people-between 1984 and this year. The Illinois chapter has 650 members, of which 371 live in Cook County, 33 in Lake County, 15 in McHenry County and 16 in Kane County.
Wes Steffen, first vice president of the Illinois chapter, estimated that there are probably another 500 or so therapists in the state who are not members of the association.
Massage really only started coming into its own within the past five to 10 years, according to Bob King, co-owner of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy. Before that, massage suffered from an image crisis traced to 1920s and 1930s Prohibition-era America when massage parlors were sometimes fronts for prostitution. Massage has been able to recover its legitimacy in recent years due to the country`s fitness craze and a growing disillusionment with traditional health care, King added.
There are still municipalities, however, that remain wary of massage therapists.
Elgin`s Massage Establishments and Massage Service section of its business licensing and regulations ordinance, for example, states that people who want to practice massage therapy in the city have to, among other things, undergo yearly testing (at their own expense) for contagious and communicable diseases. The permits are granted through the Police Department. Elgin`s Deputy Chief Eric Isom pointed out that the procedure is meant to protect people since massage therapists are not yet regulated by state or federal agencies as are doctors and other health professionals.
Pat Hoffman, owner of Massage by Hoffman in Elgin, has no problem with the tuberculosis testing since massages are often performed in enclosed spaces. But she added, ”I object to the gonorrhea and syphilis testing because that is still connected with the image of prostitution.”
Although she believes there are a lot of massage therapists who don`t bother to get business permits, Hoffman said she wanted one so that she could both publicly state her objections to the city law and educate the community about what a professional massage therapist is and does.
The types of massage, sometimes gathered under the concept of bodyworks, include Swedish massage, trigger point work, shiatsu and reflexology, according to the AMTA`s Steffen. They are just some of the 30 to 50 existing massage techniques, all of which are aimed at caring for the body`s soft tissue. ”In that sense, I guess you could call us soft tissue specialists,” he said.
Some of the professed benefits of massage include better circulation of blood and lymph fluids, greater joint flexibility and range of motion, increased efficiency of movement, reduced blood pressure and improved posture. Massage is also supposed to increase your capacity to think clearly, make it easier to express emotions and satisfy the need for human touch.
”I always believed in touching. I believe it`s very soothing and therapeutic,” said therapist Boshardt, who massaged her children when they were young.
More and more, podiatrists, chiropractors, psychotherapists and other health professionals are referring people to massage therapists. Moninger said she has even worked for a dentist.
Gulbrandson Physical Therapy president Debbie Gulbrandson, who works at Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, said that after years of technological advances in her field, massage is gaining in importance. ”Now we`re getting back to the idea that a therapist`s hands are the best tools available.”
Massage also complements chiropractic treatments by helping patients relax, according to Randy Horning of Horning Chiropractic Care in Lake Zurich. Despite believers like Horning and Gulbrandson, massage still has its share of doubters, Moninger and other therapists said.
”Massage is not recognized as a distinct medical procedure,” said Dr. Alan M. Roman, president of the Chicago Medical Society. Yet, he added, ”I will tell you that massage does have a place in such things as stress reduction.”
”Massage is sort of a hard thing to (statistically) quantify in terms of benefits,” said Gulbrandson. ”It`s not like a blood test you can measure.” To both persuade skeptics and further legitimize their trade, many of the massage therapists interviewed said they support mandatory formal training for and the licensing of therapists. Eighteen states, not including Illinois, have licensing laws or registries, according to AMTA`s Steffen said.
Eventually, Arlington Heights massage therapist Oliver said, ”I see massage being accepted as an alternative health service. I see it as having status.”
Moninger agreed. ”I would say massage is definitely moving forward. It`s not just something people do for fun anymore,” she said.
