14/05/2026
It's so wonderful to be seeing articles like this that highlight massage (and it will no doubt apply to other forms of therapy) in the context of a whole person approach. No one person is the same, and taking in account the multi-dimensional elements of the physical and emotional experiences of someone is an integral part of the treatment
A recent review exploring massage and brain imaging is worth paying consideration to 🧠👋
The authors looked at studies using EEG, fMRI and fNIRS to examine how the brain responds during, or after, different forms of massage and therapeutic touch. The findings suggest that massage may be associated with measurable changes in brain activity linked with relaxation, arousal regulation, body awareness, sensory processing, pain modulation and emotional state.
For therapists, the interest is not that we have found one simple mechanism for massage, because the research does not show that. The interest is that these findings sit alongside other research in touch science, pain science, interoception and contextual effects, where therapeutic touch is increasingly understood as part of a whole person process.
Massage involves mechanical contact with the body, so it is reasonable to say that tissues are mechanically stimulated during treatment. There may be local mechanical changes in skin, fascia, muscle or fluid movement, but these effects are likely to be transient, short lived and different from person to person. They are not enough, on their own, to explain why someone’s pain, movement, body awareness, confidence or sense of ease may change after treatment.
A more useful explanation is that touch provides sensory information. That information is interpreted by the nervous system in relation to the person’s current state, previous experiences, expectations, stress levels, sense of safety, body awareness and the therapeutic relationship.
That helps us speak about massage in a more accurate way. The pressure, pace, duration, environment and communication around treatment may all influence how the person experiences touch, how safe or threatened their system feels, how they sense their body, and how pain or movement may change.
The careful word here is *may*. The studies included in the review are varied, with different types of massage, different populations, different imaging methods and different outcome measures. That means we should not turn these findings into broad claims that one technique produces one predictable brain response.
What the review does offer is a useful direction for the profession. It supports the idea that hands on therapy can be understood as mechanical, sensory, relational and contextual input, with the person’s nervous system interpreting that input and producing the response.
That gives therapists a more thoughtful way to explain why touch can feel meaningful, settling and helpful for some people, without needing to over claim what is happening in the tissues or reduce massage to a brain only story. đź‘‹đź§
