Each year in October, the American Massage Therapy Association releases results of its annual consumer survey.
Among this year’s results:
• In the last 12 months, 15 percent of Americans got a massage to reduce pain or manage pain, and seven percent got a massage to relieve muscle soreness or stiffness.
• Fifty-four percent of Americans who had a massage in the past five years say they have had a massage to relieve pain.
• Forty percent of Americans are getting massages to relieve their stress.
• Sixty-five percent of those who earn $35,000-50,000 a year and had a massage in the past five years say they have considered regular massage to manage stress; 37 percent of this group cite stress as their primary reason for having massage.
• This year, 86 percent of Americans agree that massage can be beneficial for health and wellness, including pain relief—a number that has not wavered since 2009.
• Sixty-two percent of Americans have or would recommend massage therapy to a relative or someone else they know.
The annual consumer survey was conducted by CARAVAN Opinion Research Corporation International during July 2010, among a national probability sample of 1001 adults (501 men and 500 women) ages 18 and older, living in private households in the continental United States. The survey has a confidence level of plus or minus three percent. Commissioned by AMTA, this is the fourteenth annual massage therapy survey of American consumers.