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Facts
According to the latest research, a great number of patients with Fibromyalgia use Massage Therapy as a treatment for fibromyalgia more than any other treatment. Massage Therapy is even being used for many other conditions with the similar symptoms of fibromyalgia pain and stiffness. Massage Therapy is also very beneficial as a Treatment for FIBROMYALGIA tender points. Common massage therapy techniques comprise of rubbing, stroking and kneading the muscles to reduce pain and stress.
It is thought that massage increases the production of particular pain blockers which counteract pain signals sent by the brain. There is overwhelming evidence indicating that sufferers of Fibromyalgia improve with Massage Therapy as a treatment for fibromyalgia symptoms, maybe it will work for you.
What Is The History Of Massage Therapy?
Hands-on manipulation for healing is probably older than any other healing tradition. The oldest written records of massage go back three thousand years to China, but of course it is much older than that. Touch and the laying on of hands are human tendencies that seem to be in our genetic makeup.
Physicians and healers of all forms, and from all cultures, have used hands-on manipulation throughout history as an integral part of the health care practice. In the former Soviet countries - Germany, Japan, and China - massage has continued uninterrupted as Massage Therapists today work alongside physicians as part of the health care team. In the US, the medical use of massage began to diminish in the early part of this century with the evolution of pharmaceutical, surgical, and technological medicine. It almost diminished in the 1940's and 50's, considered too time intensive for the modern physician. Massage Therapists (MT) duties were gradually handed over to aides, who eventually became the Physical Therapists of the modern era.
The professionalization began in 1943 when the graduating class of the College of Swedish Massage in Chicago formed an association with 29 charter members. What they created was destined to become the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA). Today there are now over 80 different varieties of MT. The term "bodywork" evolved as a generic term for referring to this broadening field. It is now loosely used to incorporate massage and other forms of external body manipulation.
There are now an estimated 50,000 Massage Therapists of various kinds in the USA, and the AMTA may be the fastest-growing organization of health care providers in the country.
What Are The Educational Requirements for Massage Therapy?
There are several educational and training programs for the many different forms of massage and bodywork. The AMTA has been successful in establishing standards for the Massage Therapy field that are incorporated in many state licensing laws. Fifty-eight training programs are currently accredited or approved by the AMTA-affiliated Commission on Massage Training Accreditation/Approval, which requires at least 500 hours of classroom instruction. The curriculum includes 300 hours of massage theory and technique, 100 hours of anatomy and physiology, and 100 hours of additional required courses including first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). There are of course many other training programs that do not meet all of these standards.
Training in other forms of bodywork is much less uniform and there are no licensing laws for bodywork methods as such. Many bodyworkers are also Massage Therapists, but this is not required for most bodywork traditions.
In the next section we will discover more about Massage Therapy as a Treatment for Fibromyalgia Symptoms.
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Therapies- Treatment 
