• Massage for Pain Relief

    By Chris Woolston From an early age, we learn that the touch of a hand can ease pain. When a toddler bangs his knee in a tricycle accident, he'll instinctively rub the sore spot. Likewise, an office worker with stiff shoulders will probably try to knead them. And if a dancer can't shake the throbbing pain in her back, she just might schedule an appointment with a massage therapist. The healing power of a well-placed hand is so apparent that just about every culture in history has used massage to relieve pain. Massage faded into the background with the arrival of modern medicine, but a growing number of people are turning (or returning) to hands-on relief. According to a 2008 [...]

  • New Research Analysis Indicates Massage Therapy Shows Promise for Pain & Anxiety in Cancer Patients

    EVANSTON, Ill., Aug. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on the evidence, massage therapy shows promise for reducing pain intensity/severity, fatigue, and anxiety in cancer populations compared to the active comparators evaluated in a new systematic review.  This is the conclusion of a collaborative meta-analysis of research on massage therapy for pain conducted by Samueli Institute and commissioned by the Massage Therapy Foundation, with support from the American Massage Therapy Association.  This review and analysis is published in the August issue of the journal Pain Medicine. The study concludes that patients should consider massage therapy as a therapeutic option to help manage their cancer pain. Pain is the most common and debilitating symptom among cancer patients. While the exact prevalence of [...]

  • The Benefits of Massage for Lower Back and Neck Pain

    Lower back pain and neck pain can have many potential causes. Pain in these areas can be anything from an occasional ache to a debilitating and constant discomfort that affects a person’s work and home life. These two areas are prone to tension accumulation due to how a person walks, sits, and even sleeps. Acute lower back pain, described as pain that has lasted less than six weeks in duration, may resolve itself with little or no intervention. However, lower back pain that is sub-acute or chronic, lasting longer than six weeks in duration, is likely to require attention and care. There are several forms of massage that are particularly effective for lower back pain. Anyone considering massage for lower [...]