Full-body massage or whole-body massage is a massage treatment of the entire body. It means that it involves working from head to toes, including the front and back of the body. This is in contrast to partial body massage treatments, which address only specific parts of the body. Think here of foot massage, back massage, facial massage, etcetera, or — abdominal massage.
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Full-body massage treatments typically take more time than partial body massages, often one to two hours or even longer, while partial body massages usually take between thirty minutes and one hour.
A number of partial body massages have a distinct history, theory, and application of their own, such as foot and face massages, hand reflexology, and some types of abdominal massages, but many other modalities are subsets of existing full-body massages. For instance, a Thai head, neck and shoulders massage is a subset of a full-body traditional Thai massage. It’s given for quick relief, it can be done with the receiver seated, and it doesn’t need to take too long.
Some partial body massages have, over time, grown to become a complete new treatment modality, sometimes blending various different massage modalities or treatment concepts. Examples are Thai abdominal massage, chi nei tsang, karsai nei tsang genital massage, and Mizan abdominal therapy, which deeply focus on the abdominal, genital, and reproductive organs respectively.
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The same counts for some other types of abdominal massages, such as massages that specialize in tilting (turning) a baby in the uterus or repositioning the uterus, which arose within traditional midwifery practices.
In the case of more general full-body massages, one needs to keep in mind that many may also include massaging the abdomen. The difference with an explicit abdominal massage is that the latter will go much “deeper,” more elaborately focusing on tissues and organs in the abdominal cavity. By contrast, with general full-body massages, all body parts usually get equal attention.
And to conclude, a last remark: both full-body and partial body massages are independent of the techniques used, that is, they can be given on a massage table, on the floor or on a chair, with or without oils or herbal compresses, clothed or unclothed, and can consist of stretches, acupressure, or any combination of manual massage techniques.
