Medical Massage ~ Integrative Care

and

Pain Management

 

         Pain relief or pain management

• Stress reduction or relaxation

• Soreness, stiffness, spasms

• Injury recovery, rerhabilitation

• Keep fit, healthy, wellness

• Prevention, improve quality of life

• Control headaches, migraines

• Prenatal

•  

Chronic pain management

• Back pain

  • Studies demonstrate that medical massage therapy can reduced low back pain with significant improvement in acute and subacute low back pain or function after medical massage therapy.

 

• Neck and shoulder pain

  • Resulted in improvements in pain and range of motion.

  • Can also help relieve cervicogenic headaches caused by neck pain.

 

• Headache & migraines

  • Significant reductions in stress, anxiety and depression, associated with headache pain.

  • Greater reductions in migraine frequency and improved sleep quality resulted.

 

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

  • Study showed twice a week treatment resulted in significantly reduced pain and increased functional activity.

 

• Osteoarthritis

  • Pain from the slow degeneration of the knee joint is reduced with medical massage therapy.

  • Less pain and stiffness, and enhanced function results.

  • Medical massage therapy with exercise showed significant improvement on the pain scale.

 

• Fibromyalgia

  • Medical massage can relieve pain.

    • A study indicated that mayofascial release has positive effects on fibromyalgia symptoms such as pain, anxiety and depression.

    • Experts recommends massage therapist be regular partners in a team-based treatment of syndrome with physicians, psychologists and physical and exercise therapists.

 

• Hospice

  • Provide comfort and easing pain

  • stress

  • depression

    • Study found massage therapy reduced the need for administration of rescue doses for pain and anxiety and improved well-being in palliative care patients.

    • Massage therapy as part of a comprehensive approach to decreasing pain and improving quality of life.

 

Behavioral Health Treatment

• Anxiety and stress

  • Medical massage therapy has shown to help reduce stress and anxiety while simultaneously addressing related physical repercussions.

   

• Depression

   

• PTSD

  • Medical massage therapy helped military veterans significantly reduce anxiety, depression, worry and physical pain.

  • Delining levels of tension and irritability.

  • 2016 study study of Mission Reconnect program for military veterans showed significant improvements in measures of PTSD and signnificat reductions in self-reported levels of pain, tension, irritability, anxiety and depression.

 

• Substance use disorder recovery

  • Medical massage therapy may also be helpful for people who are recovering from substance use, specifically when they are dealing with withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, stress and sleep problems that often accompany recovery.

 

Care for Rehabilitation or Physical Training

• Sports injuries with some form of ligament tears, sub-acute back pain, etc were able to recover from their injuries through a combination of physical therapy, exercise and medical massage.

 

Ergonomics and Job-Related Injuries

• Injuries can occur due to ergonomic configurations in the workplace (.g., poor configurations of office space, or workers in assembly lines who perform repetitive functions in awkward positions).

  • Injuries can lead to acute and chronic issues, such as neck pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.

  • Workers who are receiving workers' compensation for injuries incurred on the job may seek medical massage therapy to aid in their recovery if referred by a physican as a medical necessary as a potential means of getting the individual back to the workplace.

 

 

For the treatment of pain, Americans rate massage as highly as medications, a new survey shows.

Conducted by an independent research firm, the annual survey is the ninth commissioned by the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA).

It shows that one in five U.S. adults got a therapeutic massage in the last year. Three-fourths of them would recommend it to others -- one reason for the body therapy's growing popularity.

Among those who actually had a massage in the past year, 28% say massage therapy gives them "the greatest relief from pain." Another 28% say medication gives them the greatest relief. Chiropractic comes in third at 11%, followed by 8% who got the most pain relief from physical therapy, 3% who said acupuncture was best for their pain, and 1% whose pain best responded to biofeedback.

 

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia affects as many as 5 million Americans ages 18 and older.  Most people with fibromyalgia are women (about 80-90 percent).  However, men and children also can have the disorder.  Most people are diagnosed during middle age.

Fibromyalgia is a commom and complex chronic pain disorder that affects people physically, mentally and socially.  Fibromyalgia is a syndrome rather than a disease.  Unlike a disease, which is a medical condition with a specific cause or causes and recognizable signs and symptoms,a  syndrome is a collection of signs, symptoms and medical problems that tend to occur together but are not related to a specific, identifiable cause.

Fibromyalgia syndrome affects the muscles and soft tissue.  Fibromyalgia symptoms include chronic pain in the muscles, fatique, sleep problems, and painful tender points or trigger points at certain parts of the body.  Fibromyalgia pain and other symptoms can be relieved through myofascial release therapy by Ms. Audrey St.John, CMMP (Certified medical massage practitioner).  Make your appointment online  for the $48 One Hour therapy massage or call the office at (912) 510-0264 and the office manager will assist you.
 

 Massage Therapy for Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome characterized by generalized pain, joint rigidity, intense fatigue, sleep alterations, headache, spastic colon, craniomandibular dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. This study demonstrated that massage-myofascial release techniques improved pain and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia.

The study found reductions in sensitivity to pain at tender points in patients with fibromyalgia.

Patients in the massage group received 90-minute massage for 20 weeks.

Immediately after treatment and one month after the massage program, anxiety levels, quality of sleep, pain and quality of life were still improved.

 

Castro-Sánchez, A.M., Matarán-Peñarrocha, G.A., Granero-Molina, J., Aguilera-Manrique, G., Quesada-Rubio, J.M., Moreno-Lorenzo, C. (2011). Benefits of massage-myofascial release therapy on pain, anxiety, quality of sleep, depression, and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011:561753.

 

   Massage Therapy for the Pain of Osteoarthritis of the Knee

 Research supported by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) showed that sixty minute sessions of Swedish massage once a week for those with osteoarthritis of the knee significantly reduced their pain. Each massage therapy session followed a specific protocol, including the nature of massage strokes. This is the latest published research study indicating the benefits of massage therapy for those with osteoarthritis of the knee.

 The study involved a total group of 125 subjects, with 25 receiving the 60-minute massage over 8 weeks, while others received less massage or usual care without massage.

Perlman A, Ali A, Njike VY, et al. Massage therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized dose-finding trial. PLoS One. 2012; 7(2):e30248.

 

 Massage Therapy for Inflammation After Exercise

 Research through the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario indicates that massage therapy reduces inflammation of skeletal muscle acutely damaged through exercise. The study provides evidence for the benefits of massage therapy for those with musculoskeletal injuries and potentially for those with inflammatory disease, according to the lead author of the research.

 The study found evidence at the cellular level that massage therapy may affect inflammation in a way similar to anti-inflammatory medications.

 The researchers “found that massage activated the mechanotransduction signaling pathways focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and extracellular signal–regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), potentiated mitochondrial biogenesis signaling [nuclear peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α)], and mitigated the rise in nuclear factor κB (NFκB) (p65) nuclear accumulation caused by exercise-induced muscle trauma.”

 J. D. Crane, D. I. Ogborn, C. Cupido, S. Melov, A. Hubbard, J. M. Bourgeois, M. A. Tarnopolsky, Massage Therapy Attenuates Inflammatory Signaling After Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage. Sci. Transl. Med. 4, 119ra13 (2012).

  Massage Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain

 Research released in July 2011 expanded on previous studies demonstrating the effectiveness of massage therapy for chronic low back pain. Researchers found that “patients receiving massage were twice as likely as those receiving usual care to report significant improvements in both their pain and function”. The study was conducted over 10 weeks through Group Health Research Institute.

Massage patients also said they reduced the amount of over the counter anti-inflammatory medications they took.

The study compared both relaxation massage and “structural massage” therapy and found no difference in the results from the type of massage given.

Participants had a 60-minute massage once a week for 10 weeks.

Cherkin DC, Sherman KJ, Kahn J, Wellman R, Cook AJ, Johnson E, Erro J, Delaney K, Deyo RA. A comparison of the effects of 2 types of massage and usual care on chronic low back pain: a randomized, controlled trial.
Ann Intern Med. 2011 Jul 5;155(1):1-9.