2.1 What is massage? What is bodywork and how do the two differ?
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This article is from the [alt.backrubs] Frequently Asked Questions, posted to alt.backrubs newsgroup. Maintained by Jamie Blustein with numerous contributions by others.
2.1 What is massage? What is bodywork and how do the two differ?
Massage includes a number of disciplines which share the use of pressure, friction and strain upon the muscles and joints of the body for therapeutic or affectionate physical responses. In the book _Massage: A Career at your fingertips_ Martin Ashley identifies several types of massage: massage for preventive general health; massage for relaxation, pampering or `beautification'; sports massage, massage for pain relief; rehabilitative massage (for recovery from physical injury); massage as an adjunct to medical or chiropractic treatment; and massage for personal psychological transformation. See Section 4.1 for more details about the book.
The term `bodywork' is often used to refer to therapies that are often combined and confused with massage, e.g. Shiatsu, Trager, Rolfing, Polarity and Reflexology. Some of these therapies are described briefly in question 2.2; there are postings about all of them in the archive (see question 5.1.2).
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