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Thai Care · Touch

Imagine a Thai massage your doctor could prescribe.

Nuad Thai is UNESCO-listed heritage and a daily habit for millions, and Thailand's hospitals and resorts already serve the world. Thai Care is about the therapies you receive, from massage and herbal compress to spa and wellness travel, and proving what they do.

Goal: Prove what Thai massage and spa do, so doctors and insurers can recommend them. Built on: Nuad Thai, herbal compress, 39,097 licensed practitioners, and Thailand's hospitals and resorts.

What Thailand has

A living tradition, and a growing industry.

2019

Nuad Thai inscribed on UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Source: UNESCO
39,097

licensed Thai traditional medicine practitioners, June 2023.

Source: DTAM, BIMSTEC 2023 report
US$14bn≈THB 470 bn

spent on wellness tourism in Thailand in 2024, 15th in the world.

Source: Global Wellness Institute (Feb 2026)

Top opportunities

Three Thai therapies ready to be measured.

Therapy

Nuad Thai

Traditional Thai massage, practiced both as therapy and for health promotion.

Therapy

Herbal compress (ลูกประคบ)

Steamed bundles of Thai herbs pressed on the body; tested against ibuprofen for knee pain.

Destination

Wellness retreats

Multi-day stays in places like Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Koh Samui and Phuket.

The proof gap

Loved everywhere. Measured almost nowhere.

In a small 2014 Thai trial for knee osteoarthritis, both Thai massage and herbal compress relieved pain about as well as ibuprofen. Larger trials and simple outcome measures are still missing.

See the evidence

Impact · our view

From the massage bed to the insurance plan.

Wellness tourism in Thailand was worth US$14 bn (≈THB 470 bn) in 2024 (GWI).

For people
  • Knee-pain relief for older adults, with a non-drug option to try
  • Skilled, respected jobs for therapists, many of them women in the provinces
  • Care that older people already enjoy and trust
For Thailand's economy
  • A Thai therapy that hospitals and insurers can buy
  • Higher spend per visitor in wellness tourism
  • Training and certification exported with Thai massage

Build it

Make Thai care measurable.

Use AI and simple sensors to capture before-and-after outcomes, build therapist matching and training tools, or design wellness programs that insurers and hospitals can trust.

See the six stepsWho can help

Case studies

Who did it first, elsewhere.

Traditional medicine · Japan

Tsumura and Kampo medicine

A Japanese company that turned traditional Kampo herbal formulas into standardized prescription medicines doctors use.

What would it take for Thai traditional medicine formulas to be prescribed by everyday doctors?

All case studies →

Next areaThai Move →
Sources for this page (8)
  1. UNESCO: Nuad Thai, traditional Thai massage
  2. Wat Pho: massage school
  3. UNESCO Memory of the World: epigraphic archives of Wat Pho
  4. DTAM, BIMSTEC 2023 report, p.113
  5. Global Wellness Institute, Thailand data (Feb 2025)
  6. The Phuket News: Thai massage industry overhaul (4 Mar 2026)
  7. Chiranthanut et al. 2014: herbal compress vs ibuprofen
  8. Global Wellness Institute: Thailand wellness data (Feb 2026)