Over the past several months I have been sharing my strategies for coping with chronic stress—breathing, yoga, meditation—but my favorite strategy is massage therapy.

The effectiveness of massage therapy for coping with stress lies in its ability to elicit the relaxation response. The relaxation response is the opposite of the body's stress response and helps us to counteract the toxic effects of chronic stress by slowing breathing rate, relaxing muscles, and reducing blood pressure.

Why don’t more people make massage therapy a part of their stress-coping strategies? Cost is a big part of it, but there are also quite a few misunderstandings about massage that I will now attempt to clarify.

Myth #1
Massage is a luxury and only for pampering myself

As any physician will tell you, many illnesses are exacerbated by stress. Stress is the fight-or-flight response we experience when we encounter a life-threatening situation. Unfortunately, people tend to activate the fight-or-flight response multiple times during a typical day, usually because of situations that are annoying, but not life threatening--traffic jams, long lines in the grocery store, or arguing politics with family members. Over time, such low-grade chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, increased heart rate, and muscle tension. Stress also lowers immunity and impedes the body’s ability to heal from an illness or injury.

Anything that has been proven (and massage therapy has) to lower stress is considered necessary for your health. Massage has also been shown to reduce pain as well as assist in healing a body recovering from illness or surgery. It’s okay to pamper yourself, but massage therapy’s health benefits give you a good reason to schedule regular appointments..

Myth #2
I have to be naked to get an effective massage

You can be in any state of dress to get a massage. If being undressed makes you uncomfortable, then you are not going to be able to fully relax and experience the relaxation response. Massage feels different if you are clothed, but the relaxation response can still be induced. I have clients in wheelchairs who are able to fully relax during their massage without undressing or getting on the table.

Myth #3
Massage is sexual

Before massage therapy became a legitimate profession, brothels called themselves “massage parlors” so that casual passers-by (wives?) would not be alerted as to what they were. This reputation has stuck with the massage therapy profession, unfortunately. Today, you can still find houses of prostitution posing as genuine providers of massage. They are almost without exception trafficking young, often underaged, women. Not only is this incredibly illegal, but an outrage against the vulnerable in our society. If you have suspicions that a massage therapy establishment is illicit, call the National Sex Trafficking hotline at 888-373-7888.

Myth #4
If I have a medical condition, I have to go to a medical massage therapist

Medical massage therapists are results-oriented and their treatments are specifically designed to resolve conditions that have been diagnosed by a physician. There is a difference between a physician recommending massage therapy in general and actually writing a prescription to get massage therapy for a specific condition. If your physician recommends massage in general to improve your health, then you are free to go to the therapist of your choosing.

Regardless of specialized training, medical massage therapists are not qualified to diagnose your condition. If you have a medical condition for which massage therapy was prescribed, your therapist should be working in cooperation with your physician, not as a lone wolf.

Myth #5
Massage is not considered medically necessary if health insurance doesn’t cover it

Let’s be real—health insurance companies don’t want to pay for anything, so they will find any excuse to exclude alternative health services like massage therapy, even if your doctor recommends or prescribes it. Many medical professionals have come to recognize the benefits of massage therapy (see #1 above), but it will be awhile before insurance companies catch up.

Myth #6
All massage therapists are alike

Every therapist brings their own unique style and personality to massage, so even if you ask for the same technique used by another therapist, it's going to have a different feel. That's why people get attached to their therapists and go back to them time and time again.

When scouting for a new therapist, take into account not only their experience and training, but how well you relate to them. Check out their bio on their website or Facebook page, and if you can't find their bio, you may want to keep looking. Don't know how to start looking for a massage therapist that is right for you? The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) has a locator service for massage therapists at https://www.amtamassage.org/find-massage-therapist/

Myth #7
Deep tissue massage is the most effective massage

In recent years the phrase “deep tissue” has come to be associated with what is more accurately described as “heavy pressure.” In reality, any massage can be deep tissue if the relaxation response has caused the tissues to relax at the deepest level. There are some people who like heavy pressure and for them, the relaxation response is induced, but if you find heavy pressure painful, your muscles are going to contract and result in a state of tension, the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. If you are one of these people, next time you schedule a massage, rest assured that a relaxation massage is just as deep as the one with that label.