If anyone needs access to a lifetime of medical massage appointments it is the quarter back from Denver who just announced his retirement from football after 18 years in the National Football League. While his fans, teammates, and coaches may be thinking about the long list of records that follow his name, Peyton Manning also has a constant reminder about the sport that he loved to be great at. Pain.
While few patients who make appointments for a medical massage have ever known the pain that a professional athlete gets paid to endure, the relief provided by deep tissue massage therapy is always a welcome relief.
Could a Medical Massage Make Your Pain More Bearable?
Medical massage treatments, including therapeutic deep tissue massage, focus on muscle and joint stabilization, increased range of motion, and myofascial release. Often used by people looking for help with chronic pain or tension, patients seeking these treatments have a goal to not only improve their physical health, but also their emotional well being. Administered by personal trainers, chiropractors, and other health and allied health related entities, the benefits of massage therapy are extensive:
- relieve lower back pain and other chronic conditions
- provide shorter and easier labor for expectant mothers
- decrease depression and anxiety
- work in conjunction with physical therapy in the recovery process of an athletic injury
- increase flexibility
- decrease joint pain
- reduce swelling and adhesions caused by surgery
- relieve migraine headache pain
The benefits of using massage therapy are so extensive that medical massage is often prescribed by physicians, coaches, trainers, mental health doctors, and geriatric counselors. In fact, in the single month of July 2014, more than 54 million American adults said they had discussed massage therapy with their doctors or health care providers in the previous year.
Are You Looking for Pain Relieve That Does Not Include Medicine?
Pain medications can be addictive. Although many pain relieve medications can be prescribed for the best reasons, they are sometimes overused. In an effort to get relief from chronic pain, patients often turn to these medications more often than they should. Many studies have found that treatments like trigger point massage can be used to provide immediate pain relief, as well as lasting relaxation. Combined with a decreasing amount of pain medication, medical massage can allow patients to reach a level of comfort unavailable without this therapy.
Additionally, a recent study published by the International Journal of Preventive Medicine concluded that massage therapy can also serve as an successful intervention in controlling blood pressure numbers in pre-hypertensive women. The study went on to explain that the immediate results of lowered blood pressure could last as long as 72 hours after massage. Experts expect that continued research will indicate even more applications for medical massage treatments.
As health systems throughout the country are realizing, whole healthcare is often the best approach to many medical conditions. Healthcare providers who work together to provide pain management strategies realize that they can provide better medical success by administering combined treatments to their patients who suffer from conditions like chronic pain. As further evidence, a recent American Hospital Association survey about their use of complementary and alternative medicine ( CAM) therapies, 82% of the 1,007 hospitals responding say that they include massage therapy among their health care offerings.
Once doctors and patients both realize the benefits of massage therapy, the practice will continue to grow. What may have once been thought of as a recovery therapy for professional athletes, massage techniques are now used for everything from relieve from chronic pain to a treatment that can reduce the causes of high blood pressure. As the nation continues to look for more whole medicine approaches that can combine services, the patients who benefit from these methods will also continue to grow.
The 18th annual American Massage Therapy Association Consumer Survey conducted their research in July 2014. The study found that nearly nine million people over the age of 55 have had a total of 39 million massages in the previous 12 months. The average massage session can last anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes, depending on the type of massage and how much time the client has. The benefits of medical massage and other similar treatments, however, will last much longer.
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