Thai Massage for Health
By Chami Jotisalikorn

Once enjoyed only by Thais but now gaining a worldwide following thanks in part to its popularity in the ever-increasing number of Thai spas, legions of visitors to Thailand are discovering the holistic benefits of traditional Thai massages.

First time recipients are often amazed at its rejuvenating abilities, especially after a cramped, long-haul plane ride or a tense day hunched over their computers at work. Many people may think of massages as self-indulgent pampering, but Thai massage's surprising rejuvenating abilities come from the fact that it is actually a holistic therapy with ancient roots in traditional medicine and has been practiced over the centuries as a form of healing.

Like many aspects of Thai culture, traditional Thai massage derives its origins from ancient India, and arrived in Thailand through Buddhist missionary monks who were also trained as healers. Along with the spread of Buddhist faith, the traditional massage techniques gained popularity for their abilities to relieve ailments like backaches, headaches, tension, and fevers.

Thai massage technique is based on the concept of invisible energy lines running along our bodies. It is linked to the ancient Indian yoga philosophy that our life energy is supplied to our bodies along 72,000 lines that run along our bodies. That's why some of the stretching poses of Thai massage resemble the stretching poses of yoga - to give the body the same holistic benefits. Thai massage focuses on ten key energy lines along our bodies and uses pressure techniques to release the blocked energy along those lines.

Statues at Wat Phra Chetuphon (or Wat Pho) temple illustrate various postures featuring methods of self-massage known as "Hermit's Self-massage" techniques evolving from yoga poses.Along with releasing blocked energy, there's a spiritual element to Thai massage as well. It's believed that the masseuse is healing the recipient by giving love to the patient through his or her hands. Back in ancient times, the masseuse would say a prayer to centre the mind in a meditative mood before performing a healing massage. This meditative awareness gives the masseuse the power to sense the energy flow and blockages in the recipient's body so that the ailing parts can be healed. When done properly, the masseuse should feel as relaxed as the recipient, because Thai massage is supposed to be a spiritual act that nourishes both the giver and the recipient.

Thai massage is very different from other types of massage. Unlike western massages, Thai massage doesn't use oils and you remain fully clothed. A pair of clean, loose-fitting cotton pyjamas is always supplied for you to change into at the start of the Thai massage. The masseuse uses pressure and stretching techniques, done in a rhythmic, rocking motion. A Thai massage session usually lasts two hours; for the most part, you are lying prone on your back or stomach, but the massage ends with a series of stretches in which the masseuse twists and flips your body sideways, backwards and forwards.

Instead of the standard massage table, Thai massage is done on a mattress on the floor. The masseuse uses her thumbs, arms, elbows, knees and feet, so expect her to climb all over your body and even walk on your back. Don't be alarmed or embarrassed if you find the masseuse suddenly on top of you straddling your groin area - its all part of the traditional technique. Like most Thai people, Thai masseuses are usually quite friendly and may chat or giggle to put you at ease, but there's no need to strike up a conversation with the masseuse, nor is it expected. The best way to enjoy the experience is to simply lie back, close your eyes, relax and let the masseuse do her work. At some point you may actually fall into a snooze as your aches and tensions get kneaded away.A well-trained masseuse will usually ask you whether the pressure is too hard or too soft and you're expected to give her some feedback to help guide her into giving you a proper massage. At the end of your Thai massage, the masseuse will stretch your back by swivelling your spine side to side until she hears a crack. If you find this uncomfortable or frightening, it's perfectly fine to tell her to stop, and ask for a more conventional neck rub instead.

After a Thai massage, it is normal to find your body aching in places that didn't ache before. That's because some people may suffer from repressed stress or tension that has made their muscles tense unconsciously. This muscle tension may be so subtle that it's unnoticeable by the sufferer, but these tensed up muscles are the cause of energy blockages in the body. These energy blockages are released during Thai massage, which causes the resulting discomfort. A few more massage sessions usually relieves this type of ache.

You'll find that traditional masseuses tend to be female, ranging in age from teens to grandmothers. You may find it surprising that even the most delicate-looking masseuse may pack amazing power in her two thumbs, though many massage connoisseurs say they prefer the more mature and heftier masseuses for a more thorough massage. Older masseuses also tend to be more experienced and are more skilled at identifying problem areas and kneading knotted muscles.

Traditional Thai massage is easily available anywhere in Thailand and usually have signs under the billing "Thai massage for health." They range from very reasonably priced, basic budget establishments to candle-scented luxury in pricier spa establishments.

thai spa

THAILAND – THE 'WELLNESS CAPITAL OF ASIA'
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC HEALTH CERTIFICATION OF THAI SPAS
featuring
DR REWAT WISUTWET
Director General, Department of Health Service Support,
Ministry of Public Health

Health tourism, a novel concept, is Thailand’s 'rising star'. The Royal Thai Government sees vast potential in fast-tracking the development of Thailand's healthcare and health-related services. The mission, spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Commerce, aims to firmly establish Thailand's leadership position on three fronts - as Health Tourism Hub of Asia, Wellness Capital of Asia, and Thai Herbs for Health.

In 2004, Thailand embarked on a five-year strategic plan, spearheaded by the Ministry of Public Health, to establish Thailand as ‘Centre of Excellent Health of Asia’. The plan focuses on three key areas: medical services, healthcare services and Thai herbal products. The three leading products under the "Healthcare Services" category are health spas, traditional Thai massage, and long-stay healthcare products and services.

Four key destinations were initially targeted for the health and wellbeing 'blitz' – Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Samui. In 2005, ten additional provinces with high development potential for health tourism have been incorporated into the plan. They are Chiang Rai, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi, Udon Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Prachin Buri, Krabi, Phang-nga, Ranong and Songkhla.

SPA CAPITAL
Thailand's spa sector has witnessed phenomenal growth. A study undertaken by Intelligent Spas reports a growth of 64% for the period 2000-2002. Between June 2001 - June 2002, some 230 Thai spa operators attracted a total of 3.3 million spa users, out of which 2.5 million, or 79 per cent of the country's total spa clientele, were overseas spa patrons contributing a total of US$85 million to Thailand's foreign exchange earnings. In 2004, Thai spas continued to register strong growth. They generated 5.3 billion baht in revenue, exceeding the original target by nearly ten per cent. The 2005 revenue target is 6.7 billion baht, an increase of 26 per cent.

MEDICAL HUB OF ASIA
Thailand has also made remarkable progress in strengthening its status as 'Medical Hub of Asia'. In 2004, 600,000 foreign patients seeking treatment in Thailand generated 20 billion baht revenue for the country. Regarded as a sector that offers great promise in generating significant foreign exchange earnings, medical tourism is expected to grow by an impressive 66 per cent in 2006 with approximately one million foreign patients travelling to Thailand for medical treatment and health services. As 'Health Tourism Hub of Asia', the priority for medical services is to ensure that the Thailand is perceived as being a quality destination in the delivery of superior medical and health-related services. Medical care, dental care, and medical check-ups are the core products offered.
Thai Spa
All indicators suggest that there is vast potential in Thailand's health services sector. With the destination firmly established as the Wellness Capital of Asia, achieving world-class status is next on the national agenda. The Thai government realises that it is of vital importance to offer assurance to spa guests and visitors to Thailand that safety, hygiene, service quality and quality assurance are top priorities.

To achieve planned and sustainable growth in this sector, the national strategy addresses the critical step of building consumer confidence and trust in the range of products Thailand offers. This is being achieved through the introduction of quality standards, registration, certification and regulation, and legislation.

Mechanisms have been put in place to ensure compliance and enforcement, with processes to drive the systematic improvement of standards. The comprehensive plan also includes guidelines and measures to ensure fair pricing.

CERTIFICATION STANDARDS FOR THAI SPAS
Spa operators around the world have opted for self-regulation. Other than the presence of the International Spa Association or ISPA, there is not a global organisation, agency or legal entity responsible for setting global standards for spas per se.

Thailand has set an extraordinary precedent. The state has been working jointly with private sector operators and Thai spa associations to develop specific standards for the Thai spa industry and has taken a step beyond current practice - the regulation and the enforcement of industry standards via legislation.

Under the Ministerial Announcement dated 21 April 2004 issued by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the ministry assumes the role of custodian overseeing the growth and development of the spa sector with one of its duties being to assist in the development of guidelines and specific standards for the Thai spa industry. Local industry standards are being developed in accordance with existing benchmarks for quality adopted by the global spa industry - a move which lifts the bar for health spas, traditional Thai massage, and long-stay healthcare products and services - the three leading products in this category.
SETTING STANDARDS FOR THAI SPAS
Two sets of standards are applicable to Thai spas and spa operators– Standards dictated by legislative provisions as reflected in the certification standards stipulated in the MOPH Ministerial Announcement dated 21 April 2004 and
World-class standards as defined by internationally-recognised convention and ‘best practices’
A joint state-private sector working committee has been established to identify, define and develop appropriate criteria.

TRADITIONAL THAI MASSAGE
Thai massage is an ancient art offering significant therapeutic benefits -- as anyone who has experienced it can attest.

Traditional Thai massage, a treatment believed to impart formidable healing powers, embodies qualities and traits inherent in Thai culture. This enables spa guests and visitors to Thailand to experience fascinating dimensions of 'Thai-ness' and some of the richness of Thailand’s heritage up close and personal.

Dr Rewat Wisutwet, Director General of the Department of Health Service Support, Ministry of Public Health, reiterated that the Thai government attaches great importance to the systematic development of traditional Thai massage as an economic sector because of the sizeable contribution that the sector can potentially make to social as well as economic development through the creation of jobs, particularly at the grassroots level.

The incorporation of the ten additional provinces with high development potential for health tourism into the plan to establish Thailand as the Wellness Capital of Asia significantly increases the number of jobs that will be made available in provinces such as Chiang Rai, Chon Buri, Phetchaburi, Udon Thani, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Prachin Buri, Krabi, Phang-nga, Ranong and Songkhla.

There are currently 20,000 professionally-trained spa therapists and masseuses employed in the industry. According to the MOPH, traditional Thai massage alone accounted for 1.2 billion baht in Thailand’s foreign exchange earnings.

As a demonstration of its commitment to individuals professionally employed in the Thai spa industry in the aftermath of the tsunami incident of December 2004, the MOPH immediately sponsored refresher training programmes for spa therapists and masseuse who were employed by hotel and resort spas and other spa operations in Phuket, Krabi and Phang-nga that were severely impacted by the tourism downturn. This offered an opportunity for spa-related employees to remain employed.

Additionally, as the visibility of Thai spas spreads internationally, greater awareness of the distinctive qualities of Thai spas is driving up international interest and worldwide demand for Thai spa products and services. In response to market demand, the Thai government has embarked on a major venture to take the Thai spa concept abroad. Thai spa products and services will be promoted overseas under the 'Thai Spa Goes International' banner.

The growing demand for Thai spa products and services is being mirrored by an increase in demand for professionally-trained and highly experienced spa therapists and masseuses, both at home and abroad. To develop sufficient staff resources to meet the sector’s personnel needs, a much-expanded recruitment effort, intensive training and certification is imperative.

THAI HERBS FOR HEALTH
This is a sector with vast untapped potential for growth. The popularity of Thai cuisine worldwide has resulted in growing awareness that tropical Thailand is a rich source for a diverse range of fresh herbs known for their therapeutic and healing qualities.

As the Thai spa concept takes root worldwide, there is expected to be an increase in demand for Thai herbal products. With "Thai-ness" and Thai herbs being the core ingredients of the Thai-style spa, this is an area that supports cross-sector linkages. Herbal products and herbal teas, food supplements, cosmetics and beauty products are slated to be the key product categories with high potential on the world market. According to the Department of Export Promotion targets for 2005, Thailand’s exports of health and beauty products is slated to generate US$8.72 million representing an increase of 28% over 2004.

Thailand will be hosting a Wellness Summit in the royal seaside resort of Hua Hin in September 2005 and ISPA 2006 Thailand – the International Spa Association’s Asia-Pacific Conference and Exhibition – from May 3-5, 2006. With ‘The Best of the East’ as its theme, ISPA 2006 Thailand is seen as the perfect opportunity to reinforce the country’s positioning as the Spa Capital of Asia and launch Thailand as a leading world class spa destination and supplier.

Related Links
Wellness Summit, Hua Hin, Thailand
September 21 – 23, 2005
http://www.spaasia.com/summit/

ISPA 2006 Thailand
http://www.experienceispa.com/ISPA/

“Health spa” means an enterprise that cares for and promotes people’s health through its primary services, consisting of massage for health and hydrotherapy services, and may or may not offer additional services such as sauna treatments, exercise, nutritional therapy and diet control, yoga, meditation, use of herbs or other products for health, and other alternative medicine treatments



STANDARDS FOR HEALTH SPA BUILDINGS
(1) The enterprise must be located in a place that is convenient, safe, and will not endanger an individual's health. It should not be located in close proximity to a place of ship as to cause distractions to those engaging religious activities.
(2) In cases where the health spa is located in the same building as another business enterprise, its boundaries must be clearly delineated and other business’s activities must not interfere with the provision of health spa services.
(3) The land on which the health spa is located must not be adjacent to a service enterprise as defined by legislation governing service enterprises.
(4) In the case that the health spa provides several different kinds of services in the same location, the service areas must be clearly separated and the space for each service must meet the standards for the type of service being provided.
(5) Spaces for providing personalized service must not be too closed off or hidden.
(6) All the service areas both inside and outside the health spa location must be kept clean and orderly at all times.
(7) The building must be constructed of sturdy, durable materials and must not be in an unhygienic or dilapidated state.
(8) In areas where water is used for the services, the floor should be made of a non-slippery, easy-to-clean material.
(9) All service areas should be properly lit.
(10) The area must be well-ventilated
(11) Must have a waste management system installed with rubbish, waste and used water managed in a responsible and sanitary manner.
(12) There must be a disease vector control system in place to ensure that hygienic standards are met.
(13) There must be a sufficient number of clean and proper bathrooms, toilets, hand-washing basins, and separate facilities and (clothes) changing rooms for men and women.
(14) The area must be appropriately decorated in a way that does not cause offense or violate social customs, national culture and morals.

Aromatherapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aromatherapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses volatile liquid plant materials, known as essential oils (EOs), and other scented compounds from plants for the purpose of affecting a person's mood or health.
Aromatherapy is a generic term that refers to any of the various traditions that make use of essential oils sometimes in combination with other alternative medical practices and spiritual beliefs. It has a particularly Western currency and persuasion. Medical treatment involving aromatic scents may exist outside of the West, but may or may not be included in the term 'aromatherapy'.
History
Aromatherapy has roots in antiquity with the use of aromatic oils. However, as currently defined, aromatherapy involves the use of distilled plant volatiles, a twentieth century innovation. The word, aromatherapy, was first used in the 1920s by French chemist René Maurice Gattefossé, who devoted his life to researching the healing properties of essential oils after a lucky accident in his perfume laboratory. In the accident, he set his arm on fire and thrust it into the nearest cold liquid, which happened to be a vat of lavender oil. Immediately he noticed surprising pain relief, and instead of requiring the extended healing process he had experienced during recovery from previous burns--which caused redness, heat, inflammation, blisters, and scarring--this burn healed remarkably quickly, with minimal discomfort and no scarring.
Medical tourism
Medical tourism (also called medical travel or health tourism) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe to the rapidly-growing practice of traveling to another country to obtain health care.

Such services typically include elective procedures as well as complex specialized surgeries such as joint replacement (knee/hip), cardiac surgery, dental surgery, and cosmetic surgeries. The provider and customer use informal channels of communication-connection-contract, with less regulatory or legal oversight to assure quality and less formal recourse to reimbursement or redress, if needed.

Leisure aspects typically associated with travel and tourism may be included on such medical travel trips.

Factors that have led to the recent increase in popularity of medical travel include the high cost of health care or wait times for procedures in industrialized nations, the ease and affordability of international travel, and improvements in technology and standards of care in many countries of the world.

Medical tourists can come from anywhere in the world, including Europe, the UK, the Middle East, Japan, and the U.S. This is because of their large populations, comparatively high wealth, the high expense of health care or lack of health care options locally, and increasingly high expectations of their populations with respect to health care.

A large draw to medical travel is convenience and speed. Countries that operate public health-care systems are often so taxed that it can take considerable time to get non-urgent medical care. The time spent waiting for a procedure such as a hip replacement can be a year or more in Britain and Canada; however, in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Colombia, Philippines or India, a patient could feasibly have an operation the day after their arrival. In Canada, the number of procedures in 2005 for which people were waiting was 782,936.

Additionally, patients are finding that insurance either does not cover orthopedic surgery (such as knee/hip replacement) or imposes unreasonable restrictions on the choice of the facility, surgeon, or prosthetics to be used. Medical tourism for knee/hip replacements has emerged as one of the more widely accepted procedures because of the lower cost and minimal difficulties associated with the traveling to/from the surgery. Colombia provides a knee replacement for about $5,000 USD, including all associated fees such as FDA approved prosthetics and hospital stay over expenses. However, many clinics quote prices that are not all inclusive and include only the surgeon fees associated with the procedure.

Medical tourists may seek essential health care services such as cancer treatment and brain and transplant surgery as well as complementary or 'elective' services such as aesthetic treatments (cosmetic surgery).