Massage Goes Mainstream

As you read this, thousands of Americans are lying in gloomy rooms, stripped naked, being pummeled by complete strangers. Why are the cops doing nothing? Because these people are doing it willingly, paying in fact, handsomely, to be poked and prodded and rubbed and kneaded and generally treated like human pie crust.

Massage used to be practiced mostly at the social extremities, in the homes of the very wealthy or in seedy parlors where the handiwork was offered with euphemistic "happy endings." Its health benefits were championed in hard-core homeopathic enclaves, but then again, so was dandelion root. Now massage has gone mainstream. It's the feel-good equivalent of having your teeth cleaned, the more therapeutic version of getting a pedicure.

These days the person lying on the heated table draped discreetly in a towel is as likely to be a realtor as a movie star. Shanna Woodbury, a Minneapolis, Minn., fund raiser, or her attorney husband Shawn gets a massage every three weeks without fail. "We have a standing appointment," explains Shanna. "We trade off based on who needs it most."

Lots of people are feeling that need. According to an American Massage Therapy Association survey, 17% of American adults had a massage in the past year, twice as many as in 1997. And nearly a quarter of those polled said they expect to get a massage this year. Of these, only about 35% are feeling kneady for medical reasons; most of them want to relax, relieve stress and pamper themselves.

Certainly there are more places to get rubdowns than ever before. Anywhere that can accommodate one chair, two people and lots of stress seems to be fair game, including airports, offices, factory floors, military bases, sports stadiums, day-care centers and soup kitchens. Massage therapists were onboard the Acela Express on April 15, offering 10-min. "tax break" massages courtesy of Amtrak. Miles west, in Lakewood, Colo., accountants at Bradley Allen & Assoc. were visited five times by deft-fingered folk from the Whole Body Health Center. Nearly half the 103 Wild Oats grocery stores in North America offer massages, as do many of the high-end Whole Foods markets, the largest natural-foods chain in the U.S. "You don't think to yourself, 'I'm going to get some spinach and a rubdown,'" says Liz Feldman, who goes to her local Whole Foods every two weeks for a stint in the massage chair. "But even if it's in a grocery store, I don't care. If you have a knot in your back, all you need is 10 minutes."

Since the invention of the portable massage chair in 1986, seated massage has become the fast food of health care, particularly in the workplace. Businesses, even quite small ones, are discovering that massages make a cheap bonus, improve morale and encourage employees to work longer. And since people remain clothed during a chair massage, the message such a gift sends can't be misconstrued. "It's a thank-you that says, 'I care about your well-being,'" says Elizabeth Schueneman, president of Em-space, a six-member graphic-design firm in Omaha, Neb., which a massage therapist visits once a month.