
Did you know that the National Institute of Health has a branch for studying Complementary and Alternative medicine? The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM for short - don't you love government agencies) has been studying the effectiveness of massage therapy as well as other alternative approaches to health and wellness. They are starting to build up a body of evidence that verifies what many of us already know to be true, that massage therapy can be an effective therapy for people with many conditions. Some of the studies that they have done include the effectiveness of massage for back pain, chronic neck pain, headaches, depression and anxiety, cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis and even HIV/AIDS. They continue to study the effectiveness of massage for other conditions. If you are interested in learning more about their work, go to: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/providers/digest/massage