An Introduction to Massage Therapy

A good definition for Massage Therapy is, the art or practice of applying unstructured or structured motion, pressure, tension, or vibration either manually or with the use of mechanical aids. This would be applied to the soft tissues of the body, which would include the muscles, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, joints, lymphatic vessels, reproductive system, and organs of the gastrointestinal system, all with the goal of achieving a beneficial response to the client.

Massage Therapy is usually performed by a professional Massage Therapist, but can often be used as a form of therapy by other Healthcare practitioners including Chiropractors, Physical Therapists, and Osteopaths.

Massage can either be applied to parts of the body, or successively to the whole body. This is done to aid the process of injury healing, manage pain, relieve psychological stress, and improve circulation. When massage is used for its mental, physiological, and mechanical benefits, it may be termed "therapeutic massage" or another term is manipulative therapy.

Massage can also be an important part of lovemaking (see the section about erotic massage).
Massage, when done in a professional setting, will involve the client being treated while sitting upright in a massage chair, lying on a massage table, or with the client lying on a pad placed on the floor.

Except for modalities such as Tui Na, Thai Massage, Acupressure, Shiatsu, or Barefoot Deep Tissue Massage, the massage client will generally be unclothed or at least partially unclothed. This can also be referred to as disrobed. Their body would then be "draped" with towels or sheets.

This practice of covering the parts of the clients body that are not involved in the massage is referred to as draping. This practice varies greatly from one part of the world to another. It is felt that the practice of draping makes a statement about the practitioners professionalism, and also provides a boundary for the massage session.

Draping also helps keep the client warm, as well as aids in the clients relaxation response. Some countries do require that certain areas of the body, such as the genital regions on both genders be draped, and also require that the breast/nipple area on female clients be draped.

The United States is one country which has adopted draping as a standard of the profession. While in some parts of Europe, as well as other parts of the world, you will find draping is not practiced at all.