Win a $50 gift card just for Liking us!

We are excited to announce our end-of-year Facebook promotion! Like The Massage Advantage on Facebook and you will be automatically entered to win a $50 Visa gift card! We love to reward the people who love us! Read more details on our website here- TMA Special Offers Good luck!!

Massage and Anxiety

I'm kind of big on research. I like to study; I like facts. I'm from the Show-Me State, so maybe that's why...

Since The Massage Advantage is my company, we are big on research as well. So I'm happy to announce that we finally finished up our research on the effects of massage and anxiety!

We have collected 14 clinical trials and studies that prove that receiving massage on a regular basis reduces anxiety, stress and depression. You can see more research, as well as the citations to the studies below, by clicking the link to our website above.

Here is what we found out:

• Randomized controlled trial on sixty nurses for five week study on receiving a 15 minute back massage once a week. The control group did not receive any therapy. Anxiety and stress scores decreased over the five weeks for those participants who received a weekly massage. The stress and anxiety scores of the control group increased over the five week period.

• Thirty-four breast cancer patients were randomly assigned to a massage group or a control group. Patients of the massage group received two 30-min massages per week for 5 weeks. Depression and anxious depression were significantly reduced immediately after massage compared to the control group.

• This study evaluated the effectiveness of an on-site chair massage therapy program in reducing anxiety levels of employees. Subjects participated in the chair massage therapy program or break therapy (control group) for 6 weeks for 15 minutes a week. Significant reductions in anxiety and stress levels were found for the massage group.

• This pilot study on cardiovascular patients showed statistically and clinically significant decreases in pain, anxiety, and tension scores were observed for patients who received a 20-minute massage compared with those who received standard care.

• Forty patients with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to a massage therapy group or a relaxation control group. The massage group attended a 50-min session twice per week for 3 weeks and the relaxation group relaxed in a lying down position on the same schedule. The massage therapy group showed decreases in depressed mood, anxiety and regional pain.

• This randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted from June 2008 to January 2009 was performed on eighty-two adult patients receiving inpatient treatment for psychoactive drug withdrawal. Chair massage was more effective in reducing anxiety than relaxation.

• In a 2010 study, therapist observation and patient feedback suggested that massage therapy may lead to a state of increased relaxation, decreased stress, decreased muscle tension, and improved sleep.

• Study to examine the effectiveness of a daily 20 minute massage therapy program in reducing stress, anxiety and aggression on a young adult psychiatric inpatient unit over seven weeks. There was a significant reduction in anxiety, resting heart rate and cortisol levels immediately following massage therapy sessions. Significant improvements in hostility and depression scores were observed. Massage therapy had immediate beneficial effects on anxiety-related measures.

• Twenty-four adult fibromyalgia patients were assigned randomly to a massage therapy or relaxation therapy group. They received 30-minute treatments twice weekly for 5 weeks. Both groups showed a decrease in anxiety and depressed mood immediately after the first and last therapy sessions. However, across the course of the study, only the massage therapy group reported an increase in the number of sleep hours and a decrease in their sleep movements. In addition, substance P levels decreased, and the patients' physicians assigned lower disease and pain ratings and rated fewer tender points in the massage therapy group.

• Adults were given a chair massage, and control group adults were asked to relax in a chair for 15 minutes, two times a week for five weeks. Frontal delta power increased for both groups, suggesting increased relaxation. The massage group showed decreased alpha and beta power, and increased speed and accuracy on math computations. At the end of the five-week period depression scores were lower for both groups but job stress decreased only for the massage group.

• Forty-six adults were randomly assigned to a massage therapy or a standard treatment control group. Those assigned to the massage therapy group were massaged by a therapist once a week for a 4-week period. The massage therapy group versus the control group had lower anxiety and depressed mood scores, as well as decreased sleep disturbances.

• Thirty-two people received ten 30-minute sessions of massage therapy or relaxation therapy over a five-week period. Subjects were randomly assigned to each group. Although both groups reported lower anxiety following their first and final sessions, only the massage therapy group showed behavioral and stress hormone changes, including a decrease in anxious behavior, heart rate and cortisol levels.

• Adult subjects were randomly assigned to a massage therapy, a transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TENS), or a transcutaneous electrical stimulation no-current group for 30-minute treatment sessions two times per week for 5 weeks. The massage therapy subjects reported lower anxiety and depression, and their cortisol levels were lower immediately after the therapy sessions on the first and last days of the study. The TENS group showed similar changes, but only after therapy on the last day of the study.

Is there something else you would like to see more of? Have any other topics that interest you? Let me know and we will track it down!

Our feature in Salt Lake Magazine!!

We are so excited to announce that our company has been chosen to be featured in the October 2011 issue of Salt Lake Magazine's Women in Business special!! Check us out on page 55!

2011 Talk of the Town 5 Star Customer Service Award!

We are so excited to announce that The Massage Advantage is a recipient of the 2011 Talk of the Town 5-Star Customer Service Award! This awesome award was given to us based on our client's google reviews and social media posts about our company. We are so proud of our accomplishment. Thank you to all our wonderful clients for making this possible!!

Massage and Immune Function

This week in our massage therapy research, I came across these two clinical studies showing the positive effects of massage on immune function, that will soon be added to our research section of our website. Here's to feeling good!

Study shows that a single session of massage therapy produces measurable biologic effects on the immune system. These findings may have implications for managing inflammatory and autoimmune conditions. (Rapaport, M., Schettler, P., Bresee, C. A Preliminary Study of the Effects of a Single Session of Swedish Massage on Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal and Immune Function in Normal Individuals. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, October 2010, 16(10): 1079-1088. http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2009.0634)

Study measured the effects of a 20-minute massage on spouses of patients with cancer randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The major dependent variables including natural killer cell activity, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mood, and perceived stress were measured at the three time points to examine the effects of massage. Findings suggest that massage may enhance mood and reduce perceived stress, thereby preventing stress from negatively affecting immune function. (Goodfellow, LM. The Effects of Therapeutic Back Massage on Psychophysiologic Variables and Immune Function in Spouses of Patients with Cancer. Nursing Research, 2003 Sep-Oct; 52(5): 318-28. http://journals.lww.com/nursingresearchonline/Abstract/2003/09000/The_Effects_of_Therapeutic_Back_Massage_on.6.aspx)

Massage and Blood Pressure

During our weekly research hours I came across some new research I was able to add to our Facts page with massage research. There were two studies we found.

Study#1 showed the effectiveness of a 15-min on-site seated massage on blood pressure. 52 white collar state government employee's blood pressures were measured before and after a 15-min massage at work. Results showed a significant reduction in participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure after receiving the massage although there was no control group. (Cady, Steven H.; Jones, Gwen E. Massage therapy as a workplace intervention for reduction of stress. Perceptual and Motor Skills, Vol 84(1), Feb 1997, 157-158.) http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1997-08007-022

Study #2 assessed the effects of workplace-based massage therapy on 28 participants randomly assigned into either an experimental or control group. The experimental group received weekly massage treatments at work for a four week period while the control group did not. Both strain and blood pressure were significantly reduced during treatment for the experimental group but not for the control group. (A.L. Day, L. Gillan, L. Francis, E.K. Kelloway, M. Natarajan. Massage therapy in the workplace: Reducing employee strain and blood pressure. Giornale Italiano di Medicina del Lavoro ed Ergonomia. Supplemento B, Psicologia 2009; Vol. 31, N. 3: B25-B30 ISSN 1592-7830) http://www.gimle.fsm.it/31/3s_psi/05.pdf

What awesome research that shows proof that a regular onsite massage program can decrease blood pressure. Imagine what that can do for your company's healthcare costs!

Sleep and Depression

I have been reading case studies published about the effects of massage on sleep and depression. In every single study the effects are the same- the massage group experiences lower cortisol levels (improving sleep), and lower anxiety and depression scores for days after the massages. They have tested this on regular people, fibromyalgia patients, pregnant women, depressed teen mothers, and chronic fatigue syndrome patients, and each study came to the same conclusion- REGULAR massage improves sleep, decreases anxiety, and decreases depression. In fact, here is a Reuters Health article I came across today about massage and depression saying that exact same thing. This is a very promising treatment for a condition that seems to affect a large population of the US, and to me that is exciting news!

Why is the U.S. behind the curve?

Everywhere I look online I see workplace massage thriving in the UK. In Australia it's been going on for decades. I have friends in Canada that say it's a normal part of the workday there. A lot of articles and research done on workplace massage have been conducted in other countries. Why are we as a country and a culture so slow to adopt new ideas, even when they've been proven effective by other nations?

Granted, we are starting to come around. If you look at my blog post a few back I have a list of a lot of companies in the US who provide massage for their employees and are enjoying the benefits of increased productivity, decreased turnover, and decreased health care costs. It's just interesting that we like to stick to what we think works in the traditional sense, and take very little notice of what other cultures are doing, even when it is proving to be effective.

The Massage Advantage Membership

We are excited to announce that we will soon be launching a new service option to our clients- A Membership! Clients participating in The Advantage Program will have the option to receive their massage services at work for a significant discount when signing a 6 month contract and getting set up on auto-pay. We are happy to be able to reward our clients even more for taking great care of their bodies! Look for it soon!

Perkville!

We are so excited to announce that we are launching our new client rewards program through Perkville! Now our clients can earn free massages just for facebook posts, tweeting about us, and getting their regular massages. We can't wait to reward our loyal customers!

Join the Workplace Massage Movement!

This week I spent some time researching companies across the country that currently offer on-site massage as a benefit. This is only from a small amount of research mind you, as the list goes on and on. But I was amazed to find that businesses of all sizes are starting to offer massage at work and they are really starting to see the benefits that choice. People are starting to see again the advantage they have when they invest in their employees. Here are just a few of the companies I stumbled upon this week:

Intuitive Research and Technology Corp, AL

Robins and Morton, AL

McMurry, AZ

Google, CA

Insomniac Games, CA

SAS, CA

Shutterfly, CA

Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman, CO

Inifinity Systems Engineering, CO

Integer, CO

Pinnacol Assurance, CO

Wilmington University, DE

Novozymes North America, NC

Dixon Schwabi, NY

Eileen Fisher, NY

Bridge Worldwide, OH

Johnson and Johnson, SC

AMX, TX

CHG Healthcare Services, UT

Ebay, UT

JetBlue, UT

Mozy, UT

USANA Health Sciences, UT

Soreson Labs, UT

Stampin’ Up, UT

Tahitian Noni International, UT

Williams Northwest Pipeline, UT

Noblis, VA

SnagAJob.com, VA

4imprint, WI

Acuity, WI

Worldwide and National:

AT&T

BellSouth

Coca-Cola

Delta Airlines

IBM

IKEA

Interactive Media

Rio Tinto

The Weather Channel

I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty impressive, and quite a promising indicator for the state of our economy.

Professional Organizations

This week I attended a luncheon at the Corporate Alliance in Salt Lake. It was a lovely experience. I really enjoyed how the people there were not just their to make contacts with other companies and promote their own, they truly were dedicated to helping one another in their businesses and building quality relationships. I look forward to getting more involved in this organization.

I also enjoy being a member of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, and the Women's Business Center at the Chamber. These organizations have provided excellent networking opportunities for our company, and have been a great educational resource for our young and growing company. For us, these organizations have proven to be invaluable.

Employee Perks

Times are not as bad as most of us like to think. I recently attended a Human Resources Panel at the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce and got the opportunity to hear from HR people from Overstock.com, Neutron Interactive, and Spillman Technologies. These companies continue to grow through the recession, and not only that, they offer employee perks that are unheard of. How can Neutron Interactive offer a full catered lunch onsite for their 40 employees each day, or how can Spillman Technologies give their 210 employees access to various vacation timeshares at no cost? What is the secret these companies know that the rest of the world just isn't figuring out?

It's that you get back what you put in to your people. Companies like these (there is a whole list of them in Utah Business Magazine issue a couple months ago) are going above and beyond what they offer their employees because they have seen what a difference it has made in their company's culture, growth, and bottom line. I find that very inspiring when other companies are downsizing and doing layoffs. Perks and worth the investment.

Employee Massage

Massage has grown to be more and more part of mainstream health and wellness over the last decade, but massage in the corporate world has just started to explode over the last few years. Corporate massage is becoming a mainstream perk, starting to pop up in a lot of today's offices.

Many successful, competitive companies offer their employees the benefit of on-site massage therapy. Eddie Bauer, Ebay, Boeing, Reebok, Tahitian Noni, and JetBlue all have massage offered in their offices. Even Google has its own “Massage Program Manager,” who boasts on a YouTube video that the company has “massage going in multiple massage rooms eight hours a day, five days a week.”

Why is the corporate trend moving in this direction? What could these companies possibly be gaining from allowing their employee the time to receive these services during their workday, many times completely paid for by their employer?

Companies big and small have discovered the benefits of wellness in the workplace, and they’re using massage as a way to attract employees, while also keeping them productive. Some offices offer massage in the office in order to give them a little break to increase their energy levels. Massage increases company morale and company loyalty, allowing them to keep the recruit employees in their fields and keep them happy.

A few local companies I have personally spoken with have noted that in the years they have paid for on-site massage for their employees, their Worker's Compensation claims have dropped and decreased their premiums so much that it completely pays for the cost of providing the massages, plus their employees are happier and work harder.

In today's world we are overworked and overstressed. We need a way to put back in what life takes out. Many companies have already figured out how to do that, and many more are heading that direction. To find out how you can get massage in your office today, visit us online at www.themassageadvantage.com.

Employee Incentives

Big news! We are launching a new employee incentive program next month. It is called "The Game" and for $150/month, companies can get their employees to work harder by rewarding the top 6-8 employees each month. We are so excited to launch this new program and help more businesses achieve success and growth. Stay tuned for the details!

Big business

Today I was compared to WalMart by a colleague of mine. She was referring to my ideas for how I want to do business, and meant it as an insult. I realized at that moment that I used to think exactly like her a couple years ago before I experienced my own business awakening that came to my through a series of various business books and seminars. Wanting to take my business bigger and enrich the lives of countless more than I can do on my own in an innovative way was threatening to this woman.

I used to feel the same way. I thought Massage Envy was one of the most threatening things to happen to the massage industry when they came out. Paying massage therapists $15 was a crime in my eyes, as a therapist. And charging people so little for their massages worried me that I couldn't compete. Now I can see that, like Walmart, Massage Envy creates more jobs for therapists, gives them experience, gives them financial security. Not everyone wants to be self employed. Also, from a business prospective, what they did with their business model was unique and innovative, which is was has attributed to their success. So, a thank you goes out to my colleague who compared me to walmart. I take that as a compliment.

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YouTube

So yesterday we went to an amazing conference put on by the Salt Lake Chamber and SLCC with seminars and keynote speaker from OraBrush, an company that was completely saved and successful from their series of YouTube exclusive commercials. If you haven't seen them, click here. They are hilarious.

So we are on a quest to begin our own YouTube series for our corporate massage company to educate the masses on the benefits of massage therapy in a funny and entertaining way. We are in the brainstorming stage, so we would love your input! Also, follow us on twitter and facebook if you aren't already!

Accountants, fun?

This week I met with some unusual accountants. Talented visionaries who also are avid followers of the E-Myth business revolution. I could see that "E-Myth inner light" shining through in their faces as soon as I met them. Who thought accounting could be so fun or exciting? Not me, that's for sure. I am excited to see the new places in business I can discover with their guidance and advice. A fun new partnership has begun. To any out there that might benefit from their accounting or business development wisdom, contact Eddy Hood at Dashboard Accountants in Salt Lake. They rock!

Low Back Pain

This is another subject I know well from my own personal experience, as well as the experience of my private practice clients over the last 7 years.

I am a runner, and as such tend to have bouts of low back pain and spasm when I am in training. This is due to my hip flexors and abdominals being weaker than they should be to sustain distance running. I work and work at strengthening these muscles, and though it reduces the pain and spasm, it never seems to be enough. Maybe we really weren't designed to run miles after miles of pavement. All my life, I have only experienced full relief after seeing my own massage therapist for some nice deep massage work on my QL (low back) and Psoas (anterior deep hip flexor).

I see the same issues in a lot of my athlete clients, particularly distance runners. Each and every one of them gets relief through massage, thought the more they train, the more often they need me to work it out.

Another thing that seems to help is having a Sleep Number bed. Being able to adjust the firmness of my bed really helps when my back aches. I need it much firmer when I am in training or my back spasms in the night.

Headaches

All my life I have suffered from tension headaches. As a teen, my parents even took me to a doctor who stated matter-of-factly, "Just stop putting your hair in a ponytail." Very helpful... By coincidence my hair has been short all my life since that moment.

In massage school 9 years ago, I discovered the first source of relief that won't destroy my kidneys. As we learned to massage to relieve others' headaches, we also got to receive the work ourselves. My headaches went away as long as I was receiving a massage a couple times a month. When I let it lapse, they returned. For me this was a breakthrough.

Over the years I have had numerous clients who come in only for headache relief. Just a 15-30 minute neck session 2-4 times a month does the trick for 90% of people with headache or migraine issues.

Chiropractic also has its merits for this problem of headaches as well. Since I have been a chiropractic and massage client for several years, I can tell the difference between a muscular headache and I spinal-misalignment-induced headache. So I know when I just need an adjustment, or when I need bodywork. For those of you who have tried massage and it hasn't worked for you, I would suggest trying chiropractic. For those of you that have tried chiropractic and it has worked, I would suggest trying massage. But make sure you get someone who know what they are doing. I have found in my own experience receiving massage that there is a great disparity between therapists, even those who attended the same school. So do your homework. Get a referral. It makes a difference.

Anxiety Relief

A couple months ago, I came across a some research suggesting that regular massage can decrease anxiety. Suffering from anxiety myself, I decided to increase my own personal massage frequency from monthly to weekly, hoping it would improve. I am happy to report that it has made quite a difference for me. I also recently started a weekly yoga class at my local yoga studio (Breathe Yoga in Daybreak, Aaron is amazing!), and it has decreased my anxiety even more. I have been able to sleep better, I have more energy, and I just feel happier. That has been excellent news for me, and my family has been enjoyed the results of a happier wife and mother. Namaste.