Medical researchers are studying the effects of massage with increasing interest. Dozens of studies in the last few years have linked the discernible benefits of therapeutic bodywork to specific impacts as diverse as curbing aggressive behavior in adolescents to boosting the immune systems of leukemia patients.
The massage community itself is partially responsible for this profusion of blind and double-blind studies. The medical insurance co-pay issue - massage wasn’t covered by private plans or reimbursed by government sponsored programs such as Medicare and Medicaid - spurred therapists to form their own research agenda group in the nineties.
The group’s objective was to leverage pioneering studies by top-flight medical institutions on specific effects that most massage therapists had long believed to be commonplace and hoped would prove measurable. The medical industry’s seal of approval on conventional bodywork could place many of its baseline benefits beyond dispute.
Insurers have also driven the quest to confirm massage not just as a mainstay of preventive care or health maintenance, but as a viable ingredient in the treatment of disease. As a low-cost, low-tech companion or alternative to expensive allopathic regimens, the value of massage is obvious.
Some studies have focused a wide lens on broadly defined impacts like increased relaxation, lessened stress and the easing of chronic pain. Others have homed in on the potential for fewer third-degree perineal tears during childbirth or less severe PMS following massage. In almost all domains studied, massage has so far made the grade.
For an exhaustive survey of massage-related research efforts, see www.massagemag.com Treating back pain costs Americans $26 billion a year according to a new study from Duke University.
New York Times, February 9, 2004 Scientists consider massage therapy almost as effective as traditional psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety and depression (as reported in Psychological Bulletin, January 2004)…A new meta-analysis…has concluded that (massage) offers a wide range of physical and psychological benefits similar to those seen using other forms of care.
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Massage Today July, 2004, Volume 04, Issue 07
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