Therapeutic massage finds niche in modern workplace

by Juliet Mee

for the Business Journal

Who in your office complains of pain? Headaches, eye strain, back, neck, and shoulder aches and pains are common these days. These injuries take a toll on workers' bodies and on businesses' bottom lines.

Job stress is estimated to cost the nation $200 billion every year in lowered productivity, compensation claims, absenteeism, health insurance and direct medical expenses. The majority of these injuries are muscle-, ligament- and tendon-based. Most could be improved with short sessions of massage by a professional massage therapist.

Cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) and repetitive stress injury (RSI) are terms used to describe conditions arising from the accumulation of small injuries or stresses to the body. CTD and RSI are not really diseases. Instead, they are responses to demands we place on our bodies when we do not give them enough time to recover from stress.

The field of ergonomics seeks to minimize stress injuries by adapting office equipment and machines to fit the worker. Recent improvements lessen the stress on our wrists and hands, eyes and backs. These innovative technologies are popular and widely used because they work. We will surely see better and better devices every year as technology improves.

Yet, changing our devices is not the only solution. An equally important approach is to help workers counteract the effects of continuous stress before they manifest as illnesses or injuries. This stress can come from a variety of sources:

?Physical stresses related to the body's position and motion.

?Emotional pain from meshing personalities in work groups.

?Mental stress from deadlines and productivity pressure.

All three types of stress can be reduced if a worker takes regular breaks in the workday. Physically, such breaks allow the body to recover by re-circulating oxygen and nutrients to the body tissues and allowing the brain and muscles to stop activity for a moment and recover.

That's good as far as it goes, but a massage break is much better than a simple stop in activity. Massage stimulates much-needed circulation, decreases stress hormones, makes workers more alert and productive, and provides the worker an improved sense of well being.

A study by the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami found that after five weeks, a group of employees who had twice-weekly, 15-minute massages in the office fared better than a control group who were told to close their eyes and relax. The massaged group experienced reduced stress and improved performance