What is water massage? Water massage is also known as hydro-massage or aqua-massage, and is, to say the least, trendy. With spa chains like Massage Envy popping up everywhere, luxurious massage techniques are increasingly available to people who don’t have luxury incomes. Massage is healthful, relaxing in a stressful world, and more and more accessible to moderate-income clients. It can help treat problems like back pain, neck injury, Crohn’s disease, Reynaud’s disease, and arthritis, and is often a part of recovering from muscular injuries.

photo credit: felixtsao
Water massage is a unique form of massage that fits into that trend. It can refer to many things, including being massaged by a massage therapist while bathing in warm water, or being massaged with high-pressure water streams, but that is not usually what is meant. In general, water massage refers to a modern technique of “”dry water massage.”" The client is fully clothed, and lies down on a specially designed water massage “”bed,”" which looks like a giant coffin, tanning bed, or MRI machine, although, unlike an MRI, the device tends to be comfortable even for people with claustrophobia, because there is room inside for movement and there is an emergency stop button so that the person can release him or herself from the massage instantly. These devices can be found in spas, gyms, and therapy offices. Manufacturers include Aquamassage and Spa Capsule.
Hydro-massage works through acu-pressure and deep tissue pressure. A bar travels over the client’s body, massaging him or her at various pressures using warm water jets. There is a waterproof barrier between the water jets and the client’s body so that the fully-clothed client remains completely dry. Only the shoes are removed!
One advantage of water massage is that it’s relatively quick. Fifteen to twenty minutes of this kind of massage is considered to have equivalent benefits to a full hour of traditional hands-on massage. The speed also means that the price is lower, since you pay by the minute. In all forms of massage, the going rate (which varies by region) tends to be about a dollar a minute, so you pay $20 instead of $60 and can therefore afford more frequent massages with all the concurrent health benefits.