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If your feet are aching after a long day, a foot massage can give you much-needed relief. But it doesn't just feel good. Research shows that it has health benefits, too.

Even a brief foot massage can ease stress and perk you up. That's a good thing, because cutting stress and boosting energy raise the odds you'll make healthy choices like exercising and eating right.

But how does massage do all that? It activates your nervous system, which increases feel-good brain chemicals like endorphins. In one study, people who got foot massage after surgery to remove their appendix had less pain and used fewer painkillers.

That's not all, though. Foot massage boosts your circulation, which helps with healing and keeps your muscles and tissues healthy. That's especially important if you have health problems that add to poor circulation or nerve damage, like diabetes.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, massage is seen as having a holistic impact on the client, promoting physical as well as emotional health and well-being. In other words, thousands of years of Traditional Chinese Medicine concur with increasing evidence from Western scientific studies: Massage can be a powerful tool for wellness.

Chinese massage, like Western massage traditions, is thought to be useful in alleviating chronic pain and emotional distress, improving mobility and function of the body and supporting healing from illness and injury. The details of how massage is thought to achieve this are a little different than in Western traditions, however.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the body is thought to function optimally when the fundamental life energy called qi (also spelled chi), can flow freely through the meridians, or energy pathways. Health ailments and pain are often the result of blockages in the flow of qi.

Stiffness or tension in soft tissue, connective tissue, and joints can disrupt the circulation of qi. Massage can aid in releasing muscle tension and knots and improving flexibility and range of motion, facilitating the healthy movement of qi throughout the body. This in turn helps organs and other body systems function well.

Acupoints are specific locations of the body where qi often collects or pools. These points can be targeted by both acupuncture and acupressure treatment to restore the free flow of qi. In acupuncture, narrow needles are inserted into the surface of the skin to achieve this; in acupressure, finger pressure is used instead.