Back pain relief with massage therapy
7 July 2011
Massage therapy may improve lower back pain, with benefits lasting at least 6 months, a trial suggests.
Some 400 people aged 20–65 years with lower back pain that had no identified cause, had lasted at least 3 months and was bothersome received either an hour of massage once a week for 10 weeks or usual medical care, which often meant no treatment.
Those who received massage therapy had either relaxation massage, involving a variety of manoeuvres to relax muscles, or structural massage, which focuses on correcting soft tissue abnormalities.
Participants who received either type of massage had less pain and were better able to perform daily activities than those who received usual care, the authors said, but they also noted the benefits were no longer statistically significant a year later.
"Massage therapy may be effective for treatment of chronic back pain, with benefits lasting at least 6 months," the US researchers concluded.
A limitation of the study was that patients knew which treatment they were receiving, which may have led to less favourable self-assessment by those receiving usual care, "making massage therapy seem more superior than it really is", they said.
Last Reviewed: 07 July 2011
- 1. Cherkin DC, Sherman KJ, Kahn J, et al. 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; 155: 1-9. http://www.annals.org/content/155/1/1.abstract (accessed Jul 2011).
