Confirming the Benefit of Touch
Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed more than 200 published studies that explored touch interventions. Published in the April 8, 2024, issue of Nature Human Behaviour, the review found that touch interventions were effective in helping regulate cortisol levels, increasing weight in newborns, and reducing pain, feelings of depression, and anxiety in adults.
To be included in the review, studies had to feature a touch versus no-touch control. What researchers found is not surprising: Touch is beneficial for both physical and mental health. Some of the specific findings from the meta-analysis include:
• Touch interventions reduce pain, depression, and anxiety in adults.
• Touch helps increase weight in newborns.
• Frequency of touch is more important than which kind of touch intervention is applied.
• Increasing duration of touch exposures did not improve health effects and, in some cases, showed negative relationships.
• Nonhuman touch (robots/objects) is less effective in improving mental health than human touch.
To read more, visit abmp.com/updates/news/new-study-reconfirms-benefits-touch.
Remembering Fritz Smith, Developer of Zero Balancing
Fritz Smith, MD, founder of Zero Balancing, passed away just days ahead of his 95th birthday in early May. Smith was a bodywork pioneer who described his work as a hands-on, body-mind system of therapy that integrates body structure and body energy. Smith trained with Ida Rolf and many others during his exploration into the work that would eventually become Zero Balancing.
According to a message sent by the Zero Balancing Association board to its community at the time of his passing, Smith was excited to start work on future projects and was still engaging with students. He had great hope that his work could find even deeper purpose beyond the benefit of an individual’s therapeutic relief. “Developing Zero Balancing many years ago, I had no idea where it was going to go,” Smith said in 2019. “It started out as a biomechanical system that was very good at stopping pain and helping function. But now I’m seeing it as a holistic system. I think it is a therapy that really belongs in this world because it helps a person become awake and break away from their old habitual patterns toward self-actualization.
“There is a movement in the culture to raise the consciousness of the world. I think Zero Balancing is totally in accord with that movement. I think, and hope, Zero Balancing will contribute to a future in which we see a higher level of healing and self-actualization—not just for individuals, but for our whole world.”1
Note
1. David Lauterstein, “Zero Balancing: A Conversation with Its Founder Fritz Smith, MD,” Massage & Bodywork 34, no. 5 (September/October 2019): 84–9, www.massageand bodyworkdigital.com/i/1153082-september-october-2019/86.
Missed the 2024 ABMP CE Summit?
You can still learn about headaches from instructors Whitney Lowe, Doug Nelson, Ann and Lynn Teachworth, and Ruth Werner in the ABMP Education Center. Watch the courses, take the quizzes, and earn CE!
Visit abmp.com/learn to get started.
Robotic Massage
In early 2024, the race toward “touch digitization” gained momentum with the emergence of Capsix Robotics and Aescape. Both companies are introducing AI robotic massage experiences catered to the public. Notably, massage therapists and educators Jonathan Grassi and Eric Stephenson are involved with the product development and represent these respective manufacturers.
Despite their independent development, the machines share similarities. They both employ robotic arms, akin to those used in surgical procedures, fitted with pads to emulate the massage experience. Programmed protocols guide the arms from clients’ glutes to upper backs and shoulders, with sessions lasting varying lengths.
While Capsix’s iYU machine features a single robotic arm, Aescape offers two, simultaneously massaging both sides of the client. iYU operates directly on the skin, with clients removing upper-body clothing, and can be used with or without lubrication. In contrast, Aescape clients are fully clothed, wearing the “Aerwear” apparel provided by the company to allow for optimal friction between skin and machine.
Grassi, a bronze medalist at the 2018 World Massage Championships in freestyle massage and subject of the film Touched: A Massage Story, expressed enthusiasm, seeing this as a pioneering modality for introducing massage to a wider audience. Stephenson, former director of education for Elements Massage and current president of iMassage Inc., hailed it as a groundbreaking innovation in massage.
Acknowledging potential hesitancy among today’s practitioners, Grassi and Stephenson stress that these machines will complement rather than replace human practitioners. They envision the technology expanding massage accessibility, particularly for those with reservations about traditional massage due to various factors such as lack of understanding regarding the benefits of therapeutic touch, intimacy concerns, body image issues, or past trauma. Ultimately, Grassi and Stephenson foresee these machines acting as a bridge, guiding hesitant clients toward human touch practitioners once apprehensions are eased.
As of this writing, both machines are in the final stages before release in summer 2024. The Mayo Clinic has been studying robotic massage as a post-surgery treatment for several years. And while Capsix and Aescape are the manufacturers represented here, others are in the space as well, including Massage Robotics, AiTreat, and Philonlabs/AIBotics. ABMP will stay abreast of any developments and share any new information as it arises.
Massage Therapy and Long COVID
Research on long COVID syndrome is ongoing, with a pathophysiology that’s yet to be determined. What is known (so far) is that long COVID presents with long-term symptoms affecting multiple organs and systems in humans.
A recent systematic review looked at 17 cohort studies from around the world that investigated the symptomatology of patients suffering from post-COVID sequelae in multiple organ systems. The review analyzed the findings of these studies in conjunction with a review of massage therapy literature since 2000.
The conclusion supports the idea of massage therapy as a potential therapeutic treatment for long COVID. Because the pulmonary and nervous systems have been found to be the organ systems most affected by lasting COVID symptoms, and because massage therapy is historically used for clients experiencing symptoms related to those systems, it is a logical treatment option for those suffering from long COVID.
Read more about the studies and systematic review at https://doi.org/10.3822/ijtmb.v17i1.767.
Read more about Massage & Bodywork author Ruth Werner’s in-depth analysis of long COVID in the January/February 2022 issue, page 34.
Gastrocnemius
ga-sträk-nē-mē-əs
NOUN
The largest and primary muscle of the calf of the leg, responsible for flexing the knee and foot and therefore fundamentally involved in walking and posture. The gastrocnemius runs to the Achilles tendon from two heads attached to the femur.
ISPA Numbers Indicate Healthy, Growing Spa Industry
The International SPA Association (ISPA) released the 2024 ISPA US Spa Industry Study, including data on the “Big Five”—total revenue, total spa visits, number of spa locations, revenue per visit, and total number of US spa industry employees. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducts the annual reporting, and the results from 2023’s findings include records set for both overall revenue and average revenue per visit.
The revenue numbers indicate both a healthy spa industry as well as expected growth for the future. Higher revenue from client visits means an increased opportunity for spas to hire more employees and open additional locations.
A 2022 revenue record set at $20.1 billion was surpassed in 2023, reaching $21.3 billion—a year-over-year increase of 5.7 percent. This increase is likely due (at least in part) to the increase in average revenue per visit, which rose from $111.50 in 2022 to $117.20 in 2023.
The study also illuminated additional growth seen across the industry that included a rise in employment, particularly that of full-time spa staff members. According to the report, the number of full-time staff members has nearly recovered to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic and part-time employee numbers have risen above previous highs.
A chart of the Big Five statistics is available for download at https://joom.ag/DQkd. ISPA will release the complete US Spa Industry Study later this year.
Challenging Ourselves with Self-Inquiry
What’s the difference between coaching, counseling, and psychotherapy? In this episode of The ABMP Podcast, Angie Parris-Raney is joined by Mary McEvilly-Hernandez, a master certified and professional coach, to discuss what the framework of coaching consists of, how it requires presence, deep listening, and curiosity, and how it’s a transferable skill for massage therapists.
abmp.com/podcasts/ep-438-challenging-ourselves-self-inquiry