members of congress and Presidents Harrison and Grant. At first, physicians per-
formed massage, but they eventually delegated the technique to nurses and physical
therapists and by the mid-twentieth century, massage therapy was virtually aban-
doned by most health care professionals except nurses. Advanced medical technol-
ogy, sophisticated equipment, and nurses assuming more of a management role
have left little time for hands-on nursing care. An upsurge of interest in the field
began in the 1970s with Dr. Dolores Kreiger and Dr. Martha Rogers, two nurse pio-
neers who advocated the art and caring form of touch in nursing practice. At the
turn of the new century, nurses are returning to their tradition in providing comfort
and care through the use of touch and massage.
Compared with members of other cultures, people in the United States are generally
touch-phobic and touch-deprived. Cross-cultural studies have revealed that people in
the United States have one of the lowest rates of casual touch in the world. When
psychologist Sidney Jourard observed rates of casual touch among couples in cafes,
he reported the highest rates in Puerto Rico (180 times per hour) and Paris (110
times per hour), and one of the lowest in the United States (two times per hour).
French parents and children touch each other three times more frequently than their
U.S. counterparts. French teens demonstrate significantly more casual touching of
friends than U.S. adolescents, who are more likely to fiddle with their rings, crack
their knuckles, and demonstrate other forms of self-stimulation. Other studies have
found cultures that are more physically affectionate toward infants and children
tend to have lower rates of adult violence. In spite of advertising pleas to “reach out
and touch someone,” the majority of North Americans have precious little physical
contact with family members, friends, and co-workers.
Concerns have been escalating about “inappropriate” touch, sexual abuse, and sex-
ual harassment in schools and workplaces in the United States. Some schools have
instituted “teach, but don’t touch” policies. It is rare to see teachers put their hands
on the shoulder of a child who is crying. Sadly, to protect themselves from being
accused of inappropriate touch, many people are not touching at all. While concern
for protecting children from those who would touch inappropriately is valid, the
implications of a “hands-off” barrier have significant negative effects on growth,
development, and emotional well-being.
Perhaps in response to this trend, massage, a hands-on touch therapy, has reached
out to an ever-widening U.S. audience. Massage is now the third most common form
of alternative treatment in the United States, after relaxation techniques and chiro-
practic. The power of touch has people in the United States spending almost $4 bil-
lion yearly on professional massages as 25 million individuals make 60 million
visits each year. These numbers do not include institutions that offer massage in the
workplace or the children of thousands of parents who learn baby massage.
CHAPTER 11 MASSAGE 143