Massage is the practice of soft tissue manipulation with physical, functional, and in some cases psychological purposes and goals. The word comes from the French massage “friction of kneading,” or from Arabic massa meaning “to touch, feel or handle” or  from Latin massa meaning “mass, dough”. An older etymology may even have been the Hebrew me-sakj “to anoint with oil”.

The effects of massage tend to be cumulative. After one massage the effects will last for a short time, but with more regular treatments the effects appear to last longer.