The news is good—massage has gone mainstream. Time Magazine, in its July 29 article on massage, clearly spells it out: “No longer the province of ladies who lunch—or men to pretend to—a good rubdown is now one of American’s favorite hands-on experiences.” For many of us in the industry, this coming of age may be long overdue, but is no less welcome. Significant growth in the demand for massage translates to significant opportunity for each of us in the industry.

But there’s another important message that comes out of the growth of our industry. We got here by working together—by promoting the benefits of massage and adhering to best practices to give our industry a good name. In what I believe to be the next major opportunity for our industry, the increasingly prominent role of massage therapy in the prevention and treatment of major illnesses, everyone needs to continue to play a part.

In March, we announced that Biotone would fund a study from the Touch Research Institute (TRI) of the University of Miami School of Medicine to determine the effects of massage therapy for enhancing immune function in breast cancer patients. The Touch Research Institute is dedicated to studying the effects of touch therapy. TRI has researched the effects of massage therapy at all stages of life, from newborns to senior citizens. The Biotone funded breast cancer study will be undertaken by TRI later this year.

Biotone is funding the study under an annual charitable program that we launched last year designed to support organizations that are advancing the knowledge, research and use of massage therapy in the prevention and treatment of major healthcare issues. The contribution represents a matching fund of a percentage of our sales during our annual November-December product promotion. We’ve earmarked no less than $50,000 to fund the study.

This year’s contribution and our annual program reflect our commitment to further the role of massage therapy in healthcare. There are a number of ways you, too, can help in this effort.

Dr. Tiffany Field, TRI director, who is directing the breast cancer research, recommends that massage therapists become familiar with the massage techniques that through research have proven to be useful in treating medical conditions. The Internet is an enormously valuable resource to obtain research information. The TRI website (www.miami.edu/touch-research), as an example, abstracts research studies, providing a good starting point for information on medical conditions that are being successfully treated with massage therapy as well as the massage techniques for treating these various ailments.

Dr. Field also encourages massage therapists to participate in some of their research studies. All of their studies are conducted by massage therapist volunteers. Anybody can volunteer to collect data. TRI conducts workshops to train massage therapists how to apply some of the techniques so that through their own practices they can be involved in supporting TRI research studies. These areas of TRI study include enhancing growth, pain reduction during painful procedures and chronic pain syndromes, enhancing attentiveness, alleviating depression and anxiety, autoimmune disorders and immune disorders. In fact, Dr. Field will be soliciting volunteers for the breast cancer research study

Already, many massage therapists are involved in helping to promote the benefits of massage in health prevention and treatment, according to Dr. Field. She says that many massage therapists reprint TRI studies to hand out to their clients. Others link their websites to the TRI site.

So, massage has gone mainstream. As we herald in this new era, we can celebrate the success of our industry today.
But let’s not forgot that we got here by working together. By continuing to do so, we can further the important role of our industry in healthcare and, in turn, serve the best interests of our clients.