Massage is just another "new age" therapy.

The ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece and China valued massage therapy for health maintenance as well as for medicinal purposes. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, wrote of "rubbing" as an essential component in treatment. Early in the 19th century, Peter Heinrik Ling adapted and defined the massage stokes known as effleurage, petrissage, friction and tapotement. These form the basis of the Swedish method of massage and are still commonly used by massage therapists.