Alternative Medicine Repertory

Find a comprehensive database of massage schools in your area that offer Massage Therapy Training. Locate United States massage therapy schools listed by state as well as Canada schools offering massage courses. Click on the state where you would like to attend massage therapist classes.

Massage is the treatment and practice of manipulation of the soft body tissues with physical, functional, i.e. mechanical, medical/therapeutic, and in some cases psychological purposes and goals. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading," possibly from Arabic massa "to touch, feel, handle" or from Latin massa "mass, dough". Massage involves acting and manipulating the patient's body with pressure (structured, unstructured, stationary, and/or moving), tension, motion, or vibration done manually or with mechanical aids. Target tissues may include muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin, joints, or other connective tissue, as well as lymphatic vessels, and/or organs of the gastrointestinal system. Massage can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm, and feet. There are over eighty different massage modalities. The most cited reasons for introducing massage was patient demand and perceived clinical effectiveness. Peer-reviewed medical research has shown that the benefits of massage include pain relief, reduced trait anxiety and depression, and temporarily reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and state anxiety. Theories behind what massage might do include blocking nociception (gate control theory), activating the parasympathetic nervous system which may stimulate the release of endorphins and serotonin, preventing fibrosis or scar tissue, increasing the flow of lymph, and improving sleep but such effects are yet to be supported by well designed clinical studies.

The West Coast College of Massage Therapy and the Canadian College of Massage & Hydrotherapy - the two most highly recognized and respected names in massage therapy education in North America today - comprise Canada's oldest, largest and most distinguished family of massage therapy schools.