Massage has long been used a technique for relaxation, but now a growing number of studies are showing how massage can help comfort patients with a variety of different conditions.
Curtis Griffith has multiple sclerosis, a condition that leave his muscles aching. He says that regular massage helps alleviate the pain and the tightness.
Griffith says nearly 13 years of massage have helped keep him on his feet.
"I probably would've been in a wheelchair a long time ago," said Griffith.
Griffith's wife Brenda is president of the American Massage Therapy Association, and she says more Americans are realizing massages aren't just for pampering any more.
"Almost half of the people who have massage therapy are using it for the control and help of pain," said Brenda.
Richard Finn, a specialist at the Pittsburgh School of Pain Management, says massage therapists east pain by working on the soft tissue of the entire body, and not just focusing on the site that is hurting.
"What we tend to do is to put the muscle in a slight stretch, lengthen the fibers, come across those fibers looking for a tender area, holding pressure on that tender area," said Finn.
Research shows massage can help cancer patients, burn victims and arthritis sufferers as well.
Recent studies found that massage can also ease the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease, can stop muscle spasms after heart surgery., and ease the symptoms of sickle-cell anemia and Parkinson's Disease.
