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 a so-called "energy field" surrounding the human body and affecting health.
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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, Bates method for sight training, qigong, and t'ai chi.
The better known forms of manipulative bodywork include Alexander technique, applied kinesiology, Bowen technique, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, Feldenkrais method, Hakomi, reflexology, Rolfing Structural Integration, shiatsu, Somatic Experiencing, and Trager Approach.
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 (NCCIH) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS):