The Boston Bodyworker

No tipping allowed. That is the policy founder Drew Freedman instated when he opened The Boston Bodyworker in 1999. That’s because Drew, a licensed massage therapist and nationally accredited instructor in clinical massage therapy who has worked with athletes from the New Jersey Nets and the U.S. Olympic volleyball team, sees his business not so much as a spa but as a clinic where people go to treat pain and injuries—and you don’t tip doctors or nurses.

Not that anyone would mistake The Boston Bodyworker for a spa. Though the interior decor is warm and inviting, clients won’t find a robe or slippers waiting for them like at other massage centers. What they will find are exceptional clinical massages—ones that have caught the attention of CBS and the Improper Bostonian, who gave the center its Best Massage 2011 award. The massages are so effective because Drew takes so much care in hiring his team: each of the more than a dozen therapists has two or more years of experience, has passed an in-house training program, and must constantly stay up-to-date on current research.

Along with being members of the American Massage Therapy Association and Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals, and certified with the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, Drew and his team also volunteer their time and skills to such events and charities as the Multiple Sclerosis Society’s marathon.