Massage Can Help Chronic Low Back Pain

Low back pain is a common complaint.  Whatever the treatment, it usually goes away in a few days or a week or so, but in some subjects the pain becomes chronic.  When this happens, and the standard treatments (painkillers, exercise, anti-inflammatory agents, muscle relaxants) are ineffective, patients often turn to alternative treatments, such as chiropractic or massage therapy.  The Group Health Research Institute in Washington State has conducted a study of two sorts of massage in patients with chronic low back pain, and reported the findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 

Over 400 patients between 20 and 65 with chronic low back pain were allocated to have either ‘structural massage’, ‘relaxation massage’, or ‘usual care’.  Structural massage uses maneuvers to release tension in specific tissues and joint structures, whereas relaxation massage tries to relax the massaged muscles and the person overall.  Both types of massage were given for roughly one hour weekly, for 10 weeks.  Participants had their symptoms and ability to perform daily activities at the end of the 10 weeks, and at 6 months and one year after enrolling.

At 10 weeks more than one in three subjects who received either type of massage reported their back pain was much better or gone, compared with only one in 25 patients who got usual care.  And about 2/3 of massage patients (either type) reported functioning significantly better than at enrollment, compared with 1/3 of usual care patients; they also used less anti-inflammatory meds.

At 6 months after enrollment both types of massage were still associated with improved function.  After a full year, the benefits of massage were no longer significant.  The results of this study show that massage – either type – has benefits in chronic low back pain subjects that are roughly equivalent to those of medications, acupuncture, exercise, and yoga, according to one of the investigators.           

Just a month ago a report was published in the journal Spine that shows that spinal manipulative therapy is only minimally effective for these patients.  It is based on an updated Cochrane Review of 26 randomized clinical trials.  I guess a study against massage therapy, head to head, would be interesting.

Comments

[jesonsmith]

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(edited - RG)