Massage is the manipulation of soft body tissue such as muscle and can be carried out manually or with machinery. The word massage is thought to have derived from the Arabic word mass'h, meaning to press softly.  In French masser means "to rub" and in Greek massein means "to knead". The hands, thumbs, fingers, forearm or elbows can be used to apply pressure on to areas of the body. The massage movements I use are based on the Swedish and Indian Head systems of massage.