Recently published in The Journal of Alternative and Contemporary Medicine, researchers tested the blood of 53 adults via intravenous catheters before and up to an hour after they received deep Swedish massages or light massages.
According to researcher Mark Hyman Rapaport and his colleagues at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, one session of massage may lead to immediate, significant positive biological changes.
The 29 adults who received 45-minute Swedish massages had small decreases in levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, and large decreases in levels of arginine vasopressin, a hormone that can increase cortisol levels.
The 24 adults who received light massages had greater increases in levels of oxytocin, a contentment hormone, than those who received Swedish massages. This may mean light massage is just as beneficial as a deeper Swedish massage, which involves therapists using “long strokes, kneading, deep circular movements, vibration, and tapping,” according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
In a message, “therapists press, rub, and otherwise manipulate the muscles and other soft tissues of the body. They most often use their hands and fingers, but may use their forearms, elbows, or feet,” according to the center.
Massage client Erica Portnoy of Chicago said these results were unsurprising.
“You walk out happier,” said Portnoy, 31. “What is there to be upset about after you’ve relaxed like that?”
Kathleen Miller-Read, president of the American Massage Therapy Association, said these preliminary results were exciting for the massage therapy industry.
“I totally believe in this,” Miller-Read said. But she said she thinks the benefits could be longer lasting.
“How long the effects last is different; the researchers didn’t talk about it,” Miller-Read said. “But I have a feeling they could last for up to a week.”
In the pale-green massage room of Breathe Bodyworks, a Chicago massage and fitness company, candles flicker and water trickles from a fountain. Adina Rosenberg, a massage therapist and president of Breathe Bodyworks, changes the sheets on the massage table and talks about the benefits of her art. While hormonal changes may occur immediately after a massage, it takes more than one to make sustainable changes in the body, she said.
“It’s not a one-time fix,” said Rosenberg, a nationally certified massage therapist trained at the Chicago School of Massage Therapy. “Some muscles take a lot of time to get stressed. It’s going to take that same amount of time to fix that stress.”
No matter how long the positive effects last, massage therapy experts agree biological changes may have particular benefits for women.
Miller-Read said studies have been done that show massages are particularly valuable for pregnant women and women in menopause.
“Pregnancy massage and menopause massage are similar,” Miller-Read said. “It helps them sleep better, feel less pain. The tissues feel better.”
According to the American Pregnancy Organization, “studies indicate that massage therapy performed during pregnancy can reduce anxiety, decrease symptoms of depression, relieve muscle aches and joint pains, and improve labor outcomes and newborn health.”
Rosenberg said massage therapy cannot eliminate the discomfort pregnant women experience, but can help alleviate it.
“I can’t take away their pain completely; that only happens after birth,” Rosenberg said. “But I can give them some relief.”
The mother of two children, Rosenberg said she draws on her own pregnancy experiences to help other women.
“I understand being pregnant,” Rosenberg said.
She added that pregnant women like her massages.
“Pregnant women really appreciate it most,” Rosenberg said.
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