Bodywork (alternative medicine)


In alternative medicine, bodywork is any therapeutic or personal development technique that involves working with the human body in a form involving manipulative therapy, breath work, or energy medicine. Bodywork techniques also aim to assess or improve posture, promote awareness of the "bodymind connection" rather than the "mind-body connection", or to manipulate the electromagnetic field alleged to surround the human body and affect health.

Forms

Some of the best known forms of non-touch bodywork methods include: reiki, yoga, pranayama, as well as other non-touch methods: breathwork respiration techniques, therapeutic touch, the Bates method for sight training, qigong, and t'ai chi.
The better known forms of manipulative bodywork include the Bowen technique, chiropractic, reflexology, Rolfing, postural integration, shiatsu, and the Trager approach. There are also some methods that use light touch to retrain movement patterns or shift awareness of the body, including the Alexander technique, the Feldenkrais method, the Hakomi method, integrative body psychotherapy, craniosacral therapy, and somatic experiencing.

Massage

One form of bodywork is deep tissue massage therapy, and the terms massage and bodywork are often used interchangeably. While bodywork includes all forms of massage techniques, it also includes many other types of touch therapies.

Statistics in the United States

According to a 2002 survey of adults in the United States by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine and the National Center for Health Statistics :