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!