Massage and Bodywork?

Question

What are the differences between massage and bodywork? Is there a difference?

Answer 1

Generally, bodywork is a broader term, and could include a number of modalities that some people might not consider "massage".  So energy work like reiki, polarity, etc..might be considering bodywork, but most wouldn't call it massage.  

In fact, bodywork is probably a superfluous term.  Call it massage, call it reiki, zero balancing, cranio-sacral, whatever.  Bodywork sounds kind of profound though, which is why many of us use it.  :-)

Answer 2

Massage is any hands on massage strokes such as swedish or deep tissue, etc. Body work is a general term for any type of work with the body, such as acupuncture, rolfing, aromatherapy etc. I hope that answers your question. More bodywork that is not massage: Akido, Alexander technique, Auricular therapy, Biofeedback training, Breathwork, Qi gong, crainialsacral therapy, crystal healing, Lymph drainage, myofascial release, and the list goes on and on...

Answer 3

It depends on who you ask but after 20 years in the massage profession and part of those years calling myself a bodyworker there is no clear definition.

Massage can sometimes refer to basic swedish massage or one of the many 250 different types of massage.

Bodywork has a tendency to revolve around getting more specific changes to the body like Rolfing and other types of structural integration.