Martha Rial, Post-Gazette Sheri Sable takes her turn as a client and has her head massaged by fellow student Theresa Siwik at the Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy in Penn Hills. The school is marking its 20th anniversary Saturday with events including demonstrations.

By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Decades ago, when massage therapists would tell people they gave, you know, "massages," the reaction was weird looks, shock, suspicion.

The perception was what one might suspect: that massage therapists were involved in sex, not health -- touching lurid body parts rather than providing beneficial treatment for pain, stress and other ailments.

Twenty years later that perception largely has changed, to the glee of massage therapists and their clients who have experienced its benefits.

Much of the medical community and general public now acknowledge the healthful effects of massage therapy, which area hospitals, sports teams and corporations now use routinely.

And the Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy in Penn Hills will celebrate that success during its 20th anniversary Saturday with events that will include demonstrations of massage therapy.

The goal is educating people that massage combines art and science to benefit the mind and body with the ancient process of healing through touch.

The school also is starting a program of having its advanced students offer massages for reduced rates. The school's phone number is 412-241-5155.

School officials say the art of touch goes beyond healing. It is sacred.

"One of the things we face is that we're in a profession where you touch bodies," said Kenn Howard, the school's director of education. "A lot of people equate pleasurable touches with sex. But this is a way to provide pleasurable touch without sex."

Thus the use of the term "massage therapist" rather than masseuse or masseur, he said.

The school focuses on three specialties -- massage therapy for spas; medical massage to help people with specific health problems; and the Asian & Energy program that focuses more fully on the art and philosophy of massage.

The National Massage Therapy Association reports that 47 million Americans received a therapeutic massage in the past year, with that number representing 2 million more than the previous year.

Of those polled, 90 percent said massage can benefit one's health, with 94 percent of the people 18 to 24 years old believing that to be true.

The association said massage therapy relieves pain, reduces stress, increases flexibility, reduces scar tissue and can benefit people with various ailments, including cancer.

"Pick something, and it's likely massage will be beneficial," Mr. Howard said.

One of Mr. Howard's clients, Stefni Agin of Mt. Lebanon, underwent back surgery and other treatments for a sciatica nerve problem that helped to relieve the pain, but did not resolve her problems.

So she began getting massages weekly and now gets them every two weeks from Mr. Howard. "It has relieved me of pain," she said. "The massages make it possible for me to continue to be active."

John Workman, a massage therapist who practices in Downtown Pittsburgh, said he did most of his training in California, but returned to Pittsburgh three years ago and underwent advanced training at the Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy. He now serves on faculty there.

He described the school as the best he's encountered.

But he said people have a stronger understanding of massage west of the Rocky Mountains, where it's not confused with what prostitutes mislabel as massage. People in southwestern Pennsylvania still are learning the benefits.

He said he treats people who've been in car accidents or have had surgery but whose bodies have not returned to normal.

The body has a mechanism to heal itself, he said, and massage helps spark that process. It increases the flow of blood, lymph fluid and energy and boosts the immune system.

"The body is an organism and an energy production system," he said. "That's why we conduct electricity. There is energy that runs through channels in our body."

Besides opening those channels, massage also can smooth knots in muscles, improve relaxation and "create a healthy organism."

"Hands-on healing is biblical," Mr. Workman said, "People try it and they are sold. Once they get on the table, they are mine."

The Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy began as a cooperative in 1986, but two years later, one of its founders, Bob Jantsch, took ownership and turned it into a school that now has 100 students who study the art and science of massage and its many specialties.

Mr. Jantsch, the director, said students are required to undergo 238 hours of classroom training in a program that typically takes six months to complete.

Tuition ranges from $3,000 to $4,500 for advanced training.

The school changed locations over the years, but now is situated at 3600 Laketon Road, Penn Hills. It includes classrooms, therapy rooms and a retail store that sells products including creams and oils used in massage.

Cheryl Siniakin is director of massage therapy programs at Community College of Allegheny County's Allegheny campus, which offers a two-year course that leads to an associate degree. Those credits can be transferred to four-year college programs.

Besides massage therapy, students learn about medical ethics and law, among other course that expand massage therapists experience and knowledge.

"More education is necessary," Ms. Siniakin said. "I'm tired of the fact of massage therapists not having academic degrees. I'm looking at bringing professionalism by increasing the amount of training they receive."

She said massage therapists have many options including the Penn Hills school, her program and the Massage Therapy Institute of Western Pennsylvania, operated by Paul and Donna Beadle in Murrysville.

Mr. Jantsch said his students usually have jobs awaiting them when they graduate. Massage therapists earn good incomes. The national association states that therapists working at least 15 hours a week earn an average of $30,000 a year.

Mr. Jantsch said he once gave Bob Hope a massage. Mr. Hope claimed to have had massages regularly and attributed his longevity to massages.

"We know it is helping people, and making people feel healthy," Mr. Jantsch said.