Autistic children showed less erratic behavior after massage therapy. Massage therapy is beneficial for almost all diseases. Eighty percent of disease is stress-related, and massage reduces stress. Va. AMTA, the international 45,000-member professional association for massage therapists, supports research through the AMTA Foundation. AMTA and the AMTA Foundation helped fund research at the Center for Alternative Medicine Research at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on the use of therapeutic massage for lower back pain.
Massage is to the human body what a tune up is to a car.
Many Blue Cross and Blue Shield medical plans now offer such discount programs for massage. Some of the largest managed care organizations, including Aetna US Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente and United Healthcare cover massage and other complementary therapies. The state of Washington requires insurance plans to include every category of regulated healthcare provider in their provider networks, including massage therapists. Massage therapy is currently regulated in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The remaining states leave any regulation of massage therapy to local municipalities.