Massage in traditional Chinese medicine can promote body and brain development of premature and normal newb infants. In the present study, neonatal rats (1 day old) underwent paravertebral fascial massage (15 consecutive days), followed by subcutaneous injection of insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor antagonist, JB1 (9 consecutive days). Paravertebral fascial massage significantly increased insulin-like growth factor 1 expression and cell proliferation in the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. However, JB1 inhibited this increase. Results suggest that paravertebral fascial massage can promote brain development of neonatal rats via the insulin-like growth factor 1 pathway.