Massages
Therapy That Sometimes Goes Overboard
By Daniel Muniz
A massage is a therapy done by hand or with the assistance of an
instrument that manipulates the soft body tissue, oftentimes the
back although just about any part of the body can be massaged. The
form of physical touch can include kneading, pressing, tapping,
vibrating, or gliding. The benefit of this therapy is that it feels
great and is often quite very pleasurable to the senses if done
correctly.
However, one huge problem with massage therapy is that the practice
is muddled in junk science while delving too deeply in New Age
mysticism. And as with snake oil, the profession also claims to
treat a wide range of ailments. Below is a laundry list of some of
the maladies that a massage can purportedly alleviate:
That is not to say that massages cannot make you feel good because
they are very helpful in that regard. However, there are a lot of
things in life that can do pretty much the same thing such as
watching a good movie, jogging, enjoying your favorite alcoholic
beverage, or sex. But just because something is pleasurable doesn’t
mean that it is also a medical cure. The American Massage Therapy
Association (AMTA) gets around that thorny issue by insisting that a
massage “helps” alleviate those maladies; but so does reading a good
book or just about any leisure activity.
In addition, New Age mysticism also has a profound influence in
massage therapy. Some of these disciplines focus on balancing an
energy source inside your body or recalibrating your life force to a
natural rhythm (whatever that may be). Other fields concentrate on
channeling energy to eliminate blockages or manipulating your aura.
Of course there is no scientific evidence to back up the claims that
any kind of energy source inside your body is being manipulated or
altered because New Age metaphysics is a religion instead of a
science.
However, what is most disturbing is when the industry tries to
portray itself as being some type of medical profession when it
doesn’t even come close to being one. Such a misrepresentation can
easily mislead a lot of people into thinking that they are getting
sound medical advice for the treatment of some kind of affliction.
Massage therapists are nowhere close to being qualified to render
any kind of advice to anyone.
The root of this problem is that the industry casually tosses around
a lot of medical and scientific jargon in an effort to make its
practitioners look like doctors without having them to go to medical
school. The licensing programs from the major accrediting
organizations require students to take a large number of classroom
hours in health fields like anatomy. While such coursework may be
legitimate, these certification programs also include studying a lot
of scientifically unproven alternative medicines that amounts to
nothing more to quackery.
But if massage therapists are in no way medical professionals,
then why do they have to go through so much intensive training?
Can’t just anybody give a good massage?
Yes, anybody can give a massage and that’s the problem. In some
ways, perhaps it is quite understandable that the industry wants a
rigorous certification program so that its therapists can be viewed
as adhering to a higher level of professionalism. After all,
prostitutes have tarnished its image for far too long. These kind of
masseuses were either selling sex or entertainment by wearing skimpy
outfits with no bra or panties on underneath. In fact, the term
“massage parlor” was often connected with brothels or with other
seedy business enterprises.
But a generation later, the industry has come full circle. Massage
therapy and spa treatments can now be found at high dollar resorts,
cruise ships, and other in other fine specialty shops. And the
public no longer associates massage therapists with their sleazy
counterparts in prostitution rings.
Overall, massages still have a useful value other than for
relaxation. For example, a massage therapist can be the right person
to inform you if there is a suspicious mole, lump, or growth that
may need to be checked out. If that is the case, then immediately go
to a medical professional.
But if he or she tells attempts to diagnose a medical problem or
prescribe something for it, then that person may very well be
breaking the law. People should only go to a physician for medical
advice.
Massages are indeed a pleasurable experience and many of the people
who administer them are honest hardworking individuals. And if
obtaining rejuvenation and a sense of well being is the limit of
your expectations as well as the full understanding that it is not
going to cure anything, then by all means massages should be enjoyed
and savored.
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