Stress in the workplace today is nearly impossible to erase completely - especially in fast-moving law firms and courtrooms, where crisis is the nature of the business.

Lawyers and judges acknowledge the value of both physical and mental health when they're tackling their stressful everyday tasks. Not only are people more productive when they're feeling good, but when they're feeling overwhelmed, they are more likely to develop serious health problems, taking them out of the office and creating even more of a strain. The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine reports that "health-care expenditures are nearly 50 percent greater for workers who report high levels of stress."

Some lawyers and judges are finding that alternative therapies such as massage and acupuncture are useful tools in managing their stress and keeping them at the peak of their game.

"The hardest thing about being an attorney is being an advocate; you have to take very seriously the needs of your client," said Jennifer Gilliland, a law guardian, or court-appointed attorney for children involved in custody matters. "And particularly now, my clients are children. Sometimes you get to that point where you're at max capacity, and I always think, ‘I need a massage.' The tension has to go somewhere, and with most people, it goes into their necks and backs."

The magic touch

Massage's therapeutic use dates back as far as mankind does. Ancient Greek, Roman and Asian medical teaching materials show in diagrammatic detail how and when massage should be used, describing healing touch and circulation as key elements of good mental and physical health. Current studies also bear this out. The University of Miami School of Medicine has studied touch, and the effects of massage, on premature babies. The babies who received a form of massage therapy showed 47 percent greater weight gain and a hospital stay six days shorter, on average.

That same study indicated that massage measurably increases mental alertness and accuracy in mathematical calculations among students. A group of students were given mathematical problems both before and after a series of massages, and their accuracy increased by about 20 percent after a rub-down. Researchers also discovered that massage helps to decrease blood pressure, alleviates some of the discomfort of migraine headaches, and improves general alertness and performance in office workers.

Fran Weir, a licensed massage therapist who practices on Wehrle Drive in Williamsville, sees clear benefits of massage for those in stressful occupations.

"Especially with lawyers and judges, they stay in their head so much that they disconnect from their bodies," said Weir. "Massage reconnects them to their body, because a lot of the time, they don't realize how much tension has built up until they have a headache or their shoulders don't move or their neck is in pain. Being a lawyer or a judge is a lifestyle, it's not just a 9-to-5 job, and so they don't go home and turn it off. This gives them an opportunity to turn it off."

Hon. Sharon Townsend, one of Weir's customers, makes sure that she takes the time to "turn it off."

"I make a regular appointment once a month, because it's just so important to relieve the stress," said Townsend, who is administrative judge for the 8th Judicial District. "It's the best thing I do for myself, honestly. I had back problems, and it helps with that, but just again, it's a huge stress reliever. She knows exactly where your tension points are, and she goes right to where you have your stress concentrated."

Getting to the point

Nontraditional therapies such as acupuncture sometimes raise an eyebrow, but acupuncture has also been around for a very long time. According to the National Institutes of Health, it originated in China more than 2,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest and most commonly used medical procedures in the world.

"As a practitioner of acupuncture, I am diagnosing where the person needs the most support, in acupuncture terms," said Patricia Mahone, a licensed acupuncturist with Gate of Life in Buffalo. "Basically, I'm looking at where things are out of balance, out of harmony, and then treating to rebalance the life force, and put the system back in harmony."

Just the act of choosing to do something for yourself may be liberating. The spa experience itself is very soothing, regardless of what sort of treatments you choose.

"Walking into a spa, it wipes the slate clean of what you're going through in the outside world," said Joshua Reis, a licensed massage therapist at Williamsville's Capello Salon. "You're able to create this different space, like an oasis. Cell phones are off, not even vibrating. It's an hour for yourself, and that's what people are missing these days - that alone time, where they know that they are not available to anyone else, just for themselves."

Terri Parsell Hilmey is a Williamsville free-lance writer.