WebMD Health News
July 5, 2011 - Massage can be serious medicine, at least when it comes to deal with persistent back pain, a new study shows.
Low back pain is one of the reasons main people consult a doctor at the United States, and it is notoriously difficult to treat. Studies show very little medical treatment, drug injections to surgery, unload a reliable and some may aggravate the problem.
The new study randomized 400 adults with moderate to severe lower back pain a period of three months at least two weekly massage of whole body for relaxation, weekly massages that focuses on the specific problems of muscle to the lower back and hips, or usual care.
People assigned to the usual care group were followed by researchers, but they dealt with their back issues on their own. The approach could include, for example, take pain medications or muscle relaxants acting, seeing physicians or chiropractors, physical therapy, or simply do not do something.
After 10 weeks, the participants in the two groups of massage reported greater average improvement of pain and operation compared with the usual care group. And the type of massage, they received is not important.
Which is good news, researchers say, because the relaxing or Swedish-style massage is the most commonly taught in the schools of massage and is widely available.
For the most part, the improvements seen with massage were modest.
Daily operation, for example, improved, on average, between 2 to 4 points on a scale of 23 points. Improved about average pain 2 points on a 10 point scale.
Experts say that it is a little better than the degree of benefit that most people see take of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen for lumbar pain.
But for a substantial minority, however, improvements were much larger.
At the end of the intervention of 10 weeks, 36% and 39% of patients in groups of massage said that their pain is almost or completely disappeared, compared to 4% in the usual care group.
"It is not really harmful, and it helps a significant share of people who have not benefited from other treatment," said study researcher Daniel c. Cherkin, PhD, Associate Director and senior research scientist with the Center for Health Studies, group health cooperative in Seattle.
The study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"I think that this trial is good news in the sense that it suggests that massage is a useful option which contributes to a significant fraction of these patients," says the study researcher Richard a. Deyo, MD, a professor in the Department of family medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
"As in most other treatments, it is not a slam dunk, and is not as a cure,"Deyo tells WebMD, "but it is something that seems to offer an important advantage for a significant number of patients".""
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