These days massage isn't just for feeling good anymore. It has lost the ancient stigma associated with blue light districts. It is a holistic therapy that reduces the heart rate, lowers blood pressure, increases blood circulation and lymph flow, relaxes muscles, improves range of motion, and increases endorphins, the body's natural painkillers.

Therapeutic massage enhances medical treatment and helps people feel less anxious and stressed, relaxed yet more alert. It had been said that, "Massage is to the human body what a tune-up is for a car."

Fueled by the popularity of the alternative therapies, consumers are using more and more services of licensed massage therapists:

Consumers spend $2 billion to $4 billion a year on visits to massage therapists, according to an American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) analysis of a study by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1993.

Current research shows that people are getting more massages, and that therapeutic massage is becoming more mainstream, appealing to everyone from young adults to seniors. People are experiencing the therapeutic benefits of massage. They are getting massages mostly to relax, to relieve aches and pains, and to help reduce stress.

A national survey conducted by the State University of New York at Syracuse found 54 percent of primary care physicians and family practitioners said they would encourage their patients to pursue massage therapy as a treatment, and a third of those said they are willing to refer patients to a massage therapist.

The American Massage Therapy Association's membership has increased nearly four-fold in the past decade, to more than 28,000.

More and more employers are offering massage during break times to their employees. They have found that massage therapy isn't just a perk, but actually increases employee productivity and morale. For example, according to a 1996 survey of employees who regularly receive therapeutic massage on-site at Reebok International Ltd., 98 percent said it helped them reduce work-related stress; 92 percent said it increased alertness, motivation and productivity; 83 percent said it had in some cases sufficiently addressed a problem so medical attention was not necessary; and 66 percent said it had enabled them to stay at work when they would have otherwise gone home sick.