Weerapong, Hume and Kolt (2005) define massage therapy as physical manipulation of the muscles and soft tissues of the body, with the aim of promoting well-being and good health. Some of the mechanical activities involved in massage therapy include rhythmic pressure, stroking, rolling, and rubbing. Massage therapy promotes well-being and positive health by producing psychological, physical and functional results for afflicted clients. The massage therapy procedure involves four distinct mechanisms, namely: biochemical mechanisms, physiological mechanisms, neurological mechanisms and psychophysiological mechanisms. All of these procedures work together to bring about the effectiveness of massage therapy (Fitzcharles, Ste-Marie and Pereira, 2013). Massage therapy is believed to benefit clients by improving recovery and performance, and promoting neurological, biochemical, psychological and physiological mechanisms. . Applying mechanical pressure to muscles and soft tissues helps reduce tissue adhesion. Increased musculotendinous conformation is achieved through the mobilization and elongation of adhered connective tissue (Fitzcharles, Ste-Marie and Pereira, 2013). The muscular flexibility obtained then leads to flexion of the stiff muscle-tendon assembly. Biomechanically, the impact of massage on the flexibility of the muscle-tendon unit is measured by joint range of motion, active stiffness, and passive stiffness. Joint range of motion reveals an increase in static flexibility. On the other hand, passive stiffness measures an increase in dynamic flexibility, while active stiffness measures the effect of mental activation on promoting the stretch reflex (Kumar, Beaton, & Hughes, 2013). According to the physiological mechanisms,...... middle of paper ...... to the condition of fibromyalgia. Acupuncture generally stimulates the nervous system, causing the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters trigger biochemical reactions that influence the body's homeostatic mechanism. As a result, the anxiety, pain, stiffness, fatigue, and depression associated with fibromyalgia are improved (Fitzcharles, Ste-Marie, & Pereira, 2013). Specifically, acupuncture relieves pain in fibromyalgia patients by increasing endorphins and reducing blood levels of serotonin. Additionally, it suggests a short-term increase in mu-opioid receptors in the brain. It also triggers nerve stimulation of muscles and tissues, thereby changing the pain processing process in the spinal cord and brain. Therefore, acupuncture improves muscle stiffness by increasing local microcirculation in fibromyalgia patients (Terhorst et al., 2011).