Benefits of Massage

Massage therapy spans a wide variety of therapeutic approaches, working to improve an individual?s health and well-being through the hands-on manipulation of muscles and other soft tissues of the body.

Therapeutic massage methods used today have both Eastern and Western origins. The first written records of massage date back 3,000 years to early Chinese folk medicine and ancient Ayurvedic medicine of India. Western civilizations were introduced to therapeutic massage by Greek and Roman physicians.

Stress in the Workplace
Stress, both on and off the job, costs U.S. employers an estimated $200 billion a year in reduced productivity, accidents, compensation claims, absenteeism, employee turnover, health insurance, and medical expenses. Up to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints. Up to 80% of industrial accidents are due to stress. (1)

Over 50% of lost work days are stress-related, and 14% of workers say stress caused them to quit or change jobs in the previous two years. Stress accounts for $26 billion in medical and disability payments and $95 billion in lost productivity per year. (2)

Health care expenditures are nearly 50% greater for workers who report high levels of stress. (3)

Positive Effects of Massage in the Workplace
Research indicates that a 15-minute chair massage results in decreased job stress and increased alertness.(4)

Office workers massaged regularly were more alert, performed better and were less stressed than those who weren't massaged. (4)

(When in a massage program) Employees feel less stress, are more productive on the job and are less likely to take unplanned time off from work. (5)

Case Study
In 1988, Baxter Corp., an Ontario pharmaceutical company, implemented a massage therapy program for employees. Over the next four years, the time taken off by employees for work-related injuries decreased by 25 per cent. Between 1988 and 1990, compensation claims at the company dropped by $200,000. (6)

Some Benefits to Your Employees
- Reduces stress and alleviates fatigue
- Helps with repetitive motion injuries and computer stresses
- Strengthens immune system
- Enhances ability to think and concentrate
- Enhances capacity for creativity and productivity
- Diminishes insomnia
- Relieves muscle spasms and tension headaches
- Improves digestive system functionality
- Reduces blood pressure
- Helps relieve eye strain
- Promotes relaxation and positive attitudes

References
1- Employee Burnout: America?s Newest Epidemic' (Northwestern National Life); 'Job Stress: The 20th Century Disease' (UN International Labor Organization)
2- Occupational Health and Safety news and the National Council on compensation Insurance (U.S.A.)
3-Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
2- Field, Ironson, Pickens et al. (1996). Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertness and math computations. International Journal of Neuroscience 86, 197-205
5 -February, 2000 issue of e-touch, a massage newsletter and © American Massage Therapy Association
6-Study reported in the Financial Times, 1992


For more information about The Health Enhancement Company's massage programs please view our Corporate Services and Massage Therapy Programs section or email us

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