Go looking for proof that a massage will improve your health, and you’ll have no trouble finding research to back you up. From easing muscle soreness after exercise to reducing stress, dozens of studies have shown that massage therapy is an effective way to help treat common conditions like arthritis, anxiety and chronic lower back pain.

Massage therapy dates back thousands of years. References to massage appear in writings from ancient China, Japan, India, Arabic nations, Egypt, Greece (Hippocrates defined medicine as “the art of rubbing”), and Rome.

Today, people use many different types of massage therapy for a variety of health-related purposes. In the United States, massage therapy is often considered part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), although it does have some conventional uses.