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New Study Indicates Massage Therapy Good for Back Pain
A new
study reveals that massage therapy is effective for
reducing lower back pain, as well as the sleep
disturbances, anxiety and depressed moods that can come
along with it.
The
research, conducted by the Touch Research Institutes
(TRI) a the University of Miami School of Medicine in
Miami and Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara,
and funded by Biotone, examined 30 adults who
experienced back pain for at least six months. After
being cleared by their treating physicians to receive
therapy, the participants were broken into two
groupsmassage and relaxation. The massage group
received 30-minute massages twice a week for five weeks
by massage therapists, while the relaxation group
conducted progressive muscle relaxation exercises of the
same duration and on the same time schedule as the
massage group.
Both
groups were evaluated for pain, depression, anxiety and
sleep disturbances and all participants had their trunk
range of motion was assessed. By comparison, the massage
group reported experiencing less pain, depressed mood,
anxiety and sleep disturbance and showed improvement in
trunk and pain flexion performance than the than the
relaxation group.
This is
good news for a population that is heavily affected by
back pain. The National Institutes of Health estimates
that almost 80 percent of the population suffers from
it, and next to the common cold, its the leading cause
of mussed work days.
"For
years relaxation therapy was used to treat lower back
pain," Tiffany Field, PhD, director of the TRI, says.
"This new study indicates that massage therapy also is
an effective treatment. Moreover, the back pain study
adds to the growing body of research about the role of
massage therapy in treating painful syndromes such as
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic
fatigue syndrome and migraine headaches."
You
can read more about the research that suggests massage
is beneficial for back pain in the latest issue of mtj |
American Massage Therapy Association®
