A massage chair includes a backrest, and two sets of massage arms assembled with the backrest and spaced apart from each other along a transversal axis of the backrest, each set including a first and a second massage arm that respectively have a first and a second contact member and are movable relative to each other. The method includes positioning the two sets of the massage arms such that at least the first contact members of the first massage arms contact a desired region of a user's body, actuating the two sets of the massage arms to perform a sequence of kneading pulses or a continuous kneading displacement from a wide state to a narrow state to apply a gripping action on the user's body, and stopping the two sets of the massage arms in the narrow state for a period of time to maintain the gripping action on the user's body.