What is massage therapy? There are two separate ways to approach massage therapy, from an Eastern medicine perspective it is more about energy within the body and holistic healing, whereas in Western medicine it is more from a muscle physiology perspective. Massage therapy according to Moyer, Rounds, and Hannum (2004) is “the manual manipulation of soft tissue intended to promote health and well-being.” According to most people, this type of therapy is good for the body no matter how you look at it. Always hearing people complain about headaches and say they need a good massage, it really works. Seeing people massaging their temples and neck when they have a headache makes us assume that's what works, otherwise why would they continue to do it. Well, let's find out what the experiments say. Modern life is quite hectic and requires a lot of physical and mental activity; this, combined with many other aspects, subjects our bodies to large amounts of stress. It is very common to have tension in the triangular area that runs from the base of the neck to the shoulders. This causes the shoulders to rise and move forward. This often narrows the lungs and makes breathing shallower, limiting your ability to breathe normally. Along with breathing problems, this worsens your posture, which will cause your head to go out of alignment, forcing some muscles to provide more head support than normal. The back becomes tighter and puts extra pressure on the skull which pulls on the muscles where the head and neck join and around the surface of the skull. This adds to some of the most common reasons why people suffer from headaches. According to Trivieri and And......center of the article......with these studies and my personal experience with massage and headaches I believe that massage therapy does amazing things for headaches. I would recommend a good massage to anyone who suffers from headaches at any time. Works Cited Hernandez-reif M., Deiter J., Field T, (1998). International journal of neuroscience. Migraines are reduced by massage therapy, received March 24, 2009 from the EBSCO database Quinn C., Chandler C., Moraska A., (2002). American Journal of Public Health. Massage therapy and frequency of chronic tension headache received March 24, 2009, from the EBSCO database Trivieri L. & Anderson J. (2002). Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide. California: Celestial Arts. Moyer C., Rounds J., Hannum J. (2004). Psychological bulletin. A meta-analysis of massage therapy research received March 24, 2009, from the EBSCO database