Massage and Bodywork: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve ever resourced touch as a form of therapy; eg. physical therapy, manual therapy or chiropractic you may have come across the terms massage and bodywork. Chances are if you’ve received touch therapies you likely have had both massage and bodywork.

Yet while receiving these forms of touch therapies are common, the distinction between the two is less common. Some might say it’s semantics, while others have a very strict view of their differences.

Why does it even really matter?

If it helps you receive the touch therapy care you will benefit most from, it can save you time and money.

So what is the difference of massage and bodywork?

According to the Webster’s definition, as well as the medical definition massage is the manipulation of tissues (though various methods such as rubbing, kneading or tapping).

This is the same definition resounded by AMBP, the Association of Massage and Bodywork Professionals, one of the larger professional memberships advocating for the industry of touch therapies.

This is a broad term in and of itself as there are a myriad of modalities that offer manipulation of the tissues. From Ayurvedic massage to Zen Touch Therapy, some massage styles may use high quantities of oil and lather you down from crown to toes, whereas others are completely clothed employing palm pressure and knee kneads to offer your tissues a state of utter rejuvenation.

Bodywork on the other hand; is an even broader term. It is any therapeutic work that engages with the soma (body) whether dense corporal tissues just like massage, or ethereal biofields of energetics; brainwaves and all.

Bodywork is expansive in its approach to the body. It may incorporate movement or dance therapy, where one may explore walking, sitting or floor based movements to gather an understanding of functional qualities and potential challenges within them. It may invite informed nuances of nervous system regulation, and working with breath, touch and eye movement to achieve change within an organism’s system. Bodywork may infuse sound therapies to tap into brainwaves, tuning forks for vibrational frequencies or reiki for recalibration of theta healing waves. Bodywork’s interaction with the body has a large bandwidth for being present and attuned to the body beyond the tissues themselves; although it may include the tissues in its perspectives.

Both massage and bodywork have a beautiful space within the world of supporting somatic change. Their pathways and perspectives merely have variant lenses of operations. Some of these lenses may overlap within the realms of massage and bodywork, as well as the practitioner you may work with may bring a variety of lenses to the proverbial table.

Equally incredible practices in their own rights, it can be helpful to have an understanding of the differences between the two fields. A greater awareness as to what these practices offer may assist your decision in seeking out various forms of therapeutic interventions. There is never a one size fits all, singular superior modality. Often complimentary perspectives and approaches can assist our journey to whatever healing change we seek. Explore. Investigate. Listen to your bodily and cognitive intuitions. Play. Be open that there may be different or perhaps very fine tuned methods to support you in your highest and best.

Happy journeying.

May you experience the exact care and tending your bodymind deserve!

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