Massage therapy is the fastest growing segment of natural health care, due largely to the growth in public demand for alternative approaches to health.

Looking for a massage school near you? Massage Therapy 101 has compiled this extensive list of schools across North America that currently offer a massage therapy curriculum. The schools are listed under the State or Province that they are located in. You can use the links below to jump to the geographic location you wish to browse.

Massage therapist have many opportunities to practice in a variety of settings. Your options include, but aren't limited to:

Massage therapists are currently regulated by many countries. However, massage therapy certification standards vary from country to country, state to state and province to province.

Just like a mechanic has many different tools and tricks for keeping your car running smoothly; massage therapists have a dozen different techniques and complimentary therapies to keep the human body healthy, happy and balanced.

Active Release Techniques, or ART, is used to treat a wide variety of soft tissue and repetitive-motion injuries that havent responded well to other forms of sports therapy. For this reason ART is most commonly performed on professional and serious athletes who suffer from associated sport-related injury, sports-related trauma or overuse of a muscle. Many athletes who go to a sports medicine practitioner with complaints of numbness, tingling, burning or aching muscles will be recommended for ART. The therapy is also often performed on those whose job may put repetitive strain on the joints and muscles of the body.

Chair massage, which is also referred to as seated or “on-site” massage, is a brief body massage session during which the patient lays face down on a specially designed massage chair. While in the chair, the patient’s neck, back, shoulders, arms and hips are all accessible to the therapist. Sessions can last anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes.

Deep connective tissue massage is a form of intense massage that aims to release myofascial (connective tissue) restrictions in the body, and to break up any restrictive scar tissue. It has also been known to help relieve chronic tension, to increase the bodys range of motion, to improve posture and to enhance the natural harmony of the entire body and mind.

Equine Massage is a sports massage therapy designed specifically for horses, especially performance horses. For many years, people have been benefiting from the therapeutic effects of massage therapy. Now, massage therapy techniques are being applied to animals as well.

Fibromyalgia massage was designed to help people cope with the pains of fibromyalgia, which is a chronic syndrome that causes terrible fatigue and enormous pain. The word “fibromyalgia” means tissue and muscle pain. The main symptom of the condition is great pain that affects the muscles, tendons, and ligaments of the body. People who suffer from the symptoms often feel like their whole body is aching.