We Asked: What is the future of massage and touch therapy, and how do we get there?

Here is what you told us...

The future of massage therapy is excellent. I believe we’ve crossed the barrier of a negative stigma; that’s behind us, and we are recognized by a much larger group of people as a true healing art.

I believe we can bet on a more prosperous future, but I think it will depend on insurance carriers to recognize the benefits of alternative medicine. And we have to continue to educate and make affordable client services, to have people experience the benefit of massage, and never compromise human and business ethics.
Gina Conti
North Plainfield, New Jersey

The future will be great and will be improving. I believe if we spent a little more time writing about the benefits of massage it would improve the image of massage as well as improve our businesses. [And] once people get a massage and feel they are improving, they are willing to get more massage.
Maggie Wilson
Columbia, South Carolina

Most of the people I work with, they want to stay healthy and keep their energy levels high. I think massage will become a really big health issue, for children, the elderly, everyone. I see it going very much toward the merging of Eastern and Western medicine. I think it's important that we keep educated. The more educated we are the better we can interact with physicians.
Patricia Owen-Crowell
Reston, Virginia

The general public is becoming much more aware [of] and sophisticated about massage these days. There's a need for understanding of the therapeutic side of massage. I see it going from the relaxing state more toward people needing therapy. The massage therapists who will thrive and do well will need much more education.
Muriel Hattori
Ponta Vedra Beach, Florida

The future holds everybody [seeing] a massage therapist as they would a dentist or doctor. I feel that it's going to be much more mainstreamed. How do we get there? Just by doing the best work we can and giving massage that comes from the heart.
Kelly Green
Englewood, Florida

The future of massage and touch therapies is, literally and figuratively, what we chose to make of it, as individual practitioners and as a profession, and the future is now! In my private practice, I have been blessed with the opportunity to work in a spa setting, physical-therapy center and psychotherapist's office, simultaneously. The work I do is as diverse, interesting and challenging as each of these settings suggests. Each of us fortunate enough to be working in this field at this time is creating our future, one session at a time.
Neal Delaporta
Danbury, Connecticut