Sue Smith, a 42-year-old marathon runner from Irvington, N.Y., would not consider tackling serious mileage without a body-limbering sports massage as part of her regimen. “It’s great before and after you run,” she said. “It makes you nice and loose.”
Clark Wolf is also a believer. With almost religious devotion, the food and restaurant consultant from Manhattan climbs half naked onto a table once a week, stretches out, shuts his eyes and indulges his stress-stricken muscles in the deep rub of a full-body massage.
“I’m not looking for the magic button to make me perfect and young and live forever,” said Wolf, a fit 45-year-old who has taken massage seriously for 12 years. “All I know is that massage works for me.”
After decades of being relegated to the margins of hedonistic exercise for the pampered and bored–or worse, a wink-and-nod cover for prostitution–massage, one of the oldest health treatments, is out of the parlor and finding enormous popularity among millions of Americans, from athletes to the aged.
With many of its techniques rooted in 4,000-year-old Chinese beliefs, massage is being used as a counterbalance in the lives of the exercise-exhausted and stressed out. Indeed, the various styles of massage are quickly becoming as familiar to many as the best brands of low-fat yogurt.
According to the American Massage Therapy Association, the oldest and largest group representing massage therapists, there are 120,000 to 150,000 massage therapists in the United States. (The industry has discarded the terms “masseur” and “masseuse” as not sounding professional.)
There are several explanations for the renaissance of massage. Many experts say it is a result of a convergence of the trend-making Baby Boomers approaching middle-age, a growing interest in exercise physiology, an increase in skepticism about the health-care establishment and a new-age quest to explore alternative methods for getting and staying well.
From hourlong rubs in well-appointed therapists’ offices to 10-minute massages at Great American Back Rub stores to gentle neck rubs at neighborhood nail salons, there is a massage for practically every body and budget.
The three basic massage techniques used in the United States are Swedish, shiatsu and reflexology. In recent years, sports massage, a combination of Swedish and shiatsu, has become widespread among both world-class athletes and weekend players.
Swedish
Swedish massage concentrates on improving the movement of blood and lymph through the muscles. The strokes on the body tend to be long, smooth and rhythmic. Its goal, said instructors at the Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, N.Y., is to relieve aching muscles, increase relaxation and create a sense of general well-being.
The technique was developed in the early 1800s by Per Henrik Ling, a Swede who borrowed heavily from Chinese, Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles of body work. A Swedish massage lasts about an hour and costs $50 to $100, depending on location.
Shiatsu
Shiatsu, which means “finger pressure” in Japanese, encompasses a broad range of massage styles. Underlying shiatsu are the Eastern concepts that the health and vitality of the human body depend on a balance of its energy, and that body and mind are one.
Shiatsu therapists say energy balance can be maintained by pressing acupuncture points that run along 14 major meridians, or channels, in the body. Meridians are believed to be linked to a body organ or psycho-physical function. An hour session usually costs $75 to $100.
Sports
Sports massage’s strokes tend to be deep and vigorous and focused on parts of the body that are likely to be stressed by a particular sport. For example, runners might need to have their hamstrings worked extensively.
The point of sports massage, therapists explain, is to relax the muscles, soothe nerves and improve circulation to the area, thus replenishing cells with the nutrients carried by the blood.
The massage gives a feeling of well-being, which can help speed recovery times between competitions.
The sessions tend to last at least an hour and may cost from $50 to $100.
Sue Smith, the marathon runner, says that sports massages have become essential to her training.
“It’s very helpful,” said Smith, the assistant treasurer for the General Electric Capital Corp. in New York. “It breaks down the lactic acid that builds up in the muscles after a run.”
After she finishes a marathon, she said, she gets a sports massage to help repair her muscles in preparation for the next race.
Kathleen McEvoy, a runner and a massage therapist for Smith’s marathon team, the New York Harriers, agreed. “It is the ultimate nutrition,” she said about her work. “It is the therapy of the future.”
McEvoy, 34, says massage helps people repair their bodies and relax, and in the process, “it brings you back to life immediately.”
