Massage and Pain

One of the things I find most inspiring about the simple power of Touch is the incredible range of benefits clients report - because each client takes the Touch and uses it in the way they need on that day, at that time. It's particularly exciting when a client finds themselves experiencing a benefit they had never associated with Massage previously - like the person who usually comes for Massage to loosen their muscles but walks away with a clear head, or vice versa!

I see my role as a Massage therapist not to "fix" or "treat" problems, but it's simply to deliver the Massage and leave the healing to the client. However, I'm also fascinated by the increasing body of evidence about the effects Massage and Touch therapies. The effect for one person may not be the same for the next (which is why if you book in for a Massage with me I won't promise to create any particular effect but instead will work with you to come up with a treatment which feels right for you so you can focus entirely on taking what you need from it) but where a significant majority of a trial group experience a benefit I find it takes my own experiences with individual clients to a much broader scale - as well as reinforcing the potency of Massage.

So, taking a look at just one of these areas that has had a range of studies looking into it...Massage and Pain.

The old adage of "rubbing it better" is one example of the truth of the power of Touch being deeply embedded - in fact, "rubbing it better" was quite possibly the first therapy on the planet. People have done this for millennia because it actually releases chemicals that help reduce pain. And this 2008 study explores just that:

MASSAGE REDUCES PAIN AND ANXIETY
A randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of a single session of nurse administered Massage for short term relief of chronic non-malignant pain. Seers K, Crichton N, Martin J, Coulson K, Carroll D. BMC Nursing July 2008

At the RCN Research Institute, School of Health & Social Studies, University of Warwick, a simple but effective trial took place which proves very effectively that Massage provides pain relief potential. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a single session of nurse-administered Massage for the short term relief of chronic non-malignant pain and anxiety.

METHOD: A randomised controlled trial design was used, in which the patients were assigned to a
Massage or control group. The Massage group received a 15 minute manual Massage and the
control group a 15 minute visit to talk about their pain. Adult patients attending a pain relief unit with a diagnosis of chronic pain whose pain was described as moderate or severe were eligible for the study. An observer blind to the patients' treatment group carried out assessments immediately before (baseline), after treatment and 1, 2, 3 and 4 hours later.

ASSESSMENT: Pain was assessed using 100 mm visual analogue scale and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Pain Relief was assessed using a five point verbal rating scale. Anxiety was assessed with the Spielberger short form State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.

RESULTS: 101 patients were randomised and evaluated, 50 in the Massage and 51 in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between the groups at baseline interview.
Patients in the Massage but not the control group had significantly less pain compared to baseline immediately after and one hour post treatment. The difference in mean pain reduction at one
hour post treatment between the Massage and control groups is 5.47 mm to 24.70 mm. Patients in the Massage but not the control group also had a statistically significant reduction in anxiety compared to baseline immediately after and at 1 hour post treatment.

CONCLUSION: Massage is effective in the short term for chronic pain of moderate to severe intensity.

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NHS NICE GUIDELINES
Looking more broadly, the UK's NHS National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines in 2009 identifying that it considers a course of manual therapy, including Massage, to be an effective treatment of non-specific back pain. This view of Massage and pain relief is backed up by an independent survey carried out for the American Massage Therapy Association which found that 28% of people who had had a Massage in the past year felt it gave them the "greatest relief from pain" - the same proportion (28%) as those who believed medication offered the greatest relief.

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BENEFITS OF THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE FOR CHRONIC NECK PAIN
Sherman KJ, Cherkin DC, Hawkes RJ, et al. Randomized trial of therapeutic Massage for chronic neck pain. Clinical Journal of Pain. 2009;25(3):233–238.

In a study from the US, 64 adults with neck pain persisting for at least 12 weeks were randomly assigned to receive either Massage or a self-care book. The Massage group had up to 10 treatments over a 10-week period, provided by licensed practitioners who used a variety of common clinical
Massage techniques and also made typical self-care suggestions. The participants were interviewed to assess function (using the Neck Disability Index), symptom bothersomeness and other measures at 4, 10, and 26 weeks.

After 10 weeks, the Massage group was more likely than the self-care-book group to have clinically significant improvement in function and symptoms. At 26 weeks, the Massage group tended to be more likely to report improvement in function but not in specific symptoms. For both function and symptoms,

mean differences between the two groups were strongest at 4 weeks and not evident by 26 weeks. At all followup points, the Massage group was more likely than the self-care-book group to report global improvement ratings of "better" or "much better." At 26 weeks, medication use had increased 14 percent for the self-care-book group but had not changed for the Massage group. There were no serious

adverse experiences reported.

The researchers concluded that therapeutic Massage is safe and may have benefits for treating chronic neck pain, at least in the short term. They recommended studies to determine optimal Massage treatment, as well as larger, more comprehensive studies to follow patients for at least 1 year.

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This is but a brief taste of the research that has already been carried out into Massage and Pain and, as with any research, carries with it limitations. But for a therapy which can often be considered simply "skin polishing" I'm so grateful to the people out there dedicating their lives to carrying out these studies. My own personal experience as a therapist and client tells me the power of Massage to provide pain relief is very real, but I so value the validation from outside my own little treatment room, because if a study provides a doorway for a Massage & Touch Sceptic to give a treatment a try, all the better!

Massage is just another word for Sex, right?

Ah, that old chestnut.

"Oh, you're a Massage Therapist, eh? Do you do happy endings?!"

Often said in jest - but the point is, it's often said. How many other professions do you know where people feel it's socially appropriate to insinuate you're actually a sex worker? Here in the UK the term Massage Parlour usually refers to an establishment offering something sexual rather than strictly therapeutic. People who are offering sexual services often advertise under the heading of Massage. Sex is rarely spoken about in anything but euphemisms and Touch is increasingly sexualised. It's hardly surprising the term Massage could seem synonymous with sex.

But it's not!

I'm a Massage therapist. I don't have sex with my clients. I'm a Massage client. I don't have sex with my therapist. And that's the way I want to keep it.

Massage is so many things and yes, you can seek out a specifically sensual or sexual Massage. But what a waste to disregard all the incredible qualities of Massage and Touch which have nothing to do with sex.

What a waste to disregard the thousands of scientific research papers finding Massage can help the immune system, reduce pain, depression and anxiety, reduce stress, enhance the development of premature babies - and so much more.

What a waste to disregard the feedback from millions of clients the world over of the change to their emotions, their muscles, their mental state, their whole being.

And what an insult to the therapists who have dedicated their lives to training and offering powerful healing Touch.

So no, in case you were still in any doubt, Massage isn't just another word for sex. If you're looking for sex, ask for sex. And if you're looking for Massage I wish you the very best in finding a practitioner who lets the simple power of Touch do the work.

Massage. What's it all about, anyway?

I think Massage is awesome. Although it's taken me a while, over several years of training as a Massage therapist (in particular with the NO HANDS Massage Company), I'm beginning to understand the incredibly broad scope of what Massage can do. And part of that is knowing it's not just an incredible tool to recover from injury, illness and emotional turbulence, but that regular Massage can help me (as a client) stay in optimum health.

I also have fabulous regular clients who understood the power of Massage before we met - and at the time of finding me were simply searching for the right therapist to book in with.

Yet thinking back to my Life Before Massage, it was something that didn't even enter my field of vision. Massage wasn't something my family, friends or other associates did. It was completely off my radar. And without having any connection or knowledge of Massage, why on earth would I spend £40 or upwards going to see a stranger, into whose hands I would put myself for an hour in an incredibly vulnerable position (naked or close to it) on the off-chance this thing called Massage was any good?

With that in mind, I find myself desperately wanting to share this incredible therapy but struggling against prejudices, misplaced assumptions and plain misinformation about what Massage is and what it can do.

So I'm doing what I can - offering new clients at my practice in Morecambe a really low priced introductory offer to try NO HANDS Massage. And for those who aren't ready to book a session, writing a series of short blogs about some of the misconceptions about Massage I come across on a regular basis.

Every therapist has their own take and this is mine. If any of the posts I write over the next few weeks spark further questions for you, or you've got an idea about Massage which is a barrier to you giving it a try, please do let me know. I certainly don't have all the answers but if having a chat about it might bring you one step closer to trying Massage I'm game if you are.

And in the mean time, f you want to get stuck into a great novel that'll take you on a journey through so many possibilities with Massage, Mavis and I... by Gerry Pyves comes highly recommended.