Swedish massage is the manual manipulation of the soft tissues of the body to achieve a therapeutic response. The purpose is to maintain and/or improve the function of musces and joints; benefiting the circulation of blood and lymphatic fluid and decreasing pain and stress. The focus of a treatment can range from addressing a specific injury or dysfunction to simply relaxing.

Deep tissue massage also falls under this description as it uses the same techniques. However, the pressure used by the therapist is adjusted to engage the tissue at a deeper level.