Massage for Back Pain Relief
The practice of regular massage is considered more of a treat than a necessity. Most people believe that getting a massage will relieve their aches and pains. It can even help if they’ve overdone the exercise. But not everybody realizes that massage therapy is also a powerful painkiller. Massage can help people with back problems to reduce the amount of medication they must take. The great benefits of massage make it a great back pain relief method.
Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain medication. And if you’re one of the 31 million Americans who suffer from back pain at some point in their life, you’ll know how miserable it can be. If you are dealing with chronic back pain – which is pain that’s lasted more than three months and less than six – it can impact your daily life and stop you from doing things you want to do. You could be reliant on drugs to keep you mobile or help you sleep.
The vicious pain cycle
If you can no longer exercise pain-free, you might end up in a vicious cycle of inactivity. This can make your pain worse, which stops you from being active. Or you could increase your meds, but that masks the problem. Also, some strong pain meds contain painkillers opioids like codeine which can lose their power over time as you build up a tolerance to their effects. They can also have unwanted side effects.
What you need is to manage your back pain that is effective but doesn’t have side effects. Research has shown that regular massage can be a powerful back pain relief. Along with your prescribed medication and any other advice from your healthcare supplier, you might be able to decrease the number of painkillers you need to manage your back pain and start to live a more active life.
How massage can help beat back pain
A massage session doesn’t just relax you. It can help to promote tissue repair. Massage is also great to improve blood circulation and does wonder for your stress levels and mood. Recent research showed that regular massage therapy combined with exercise helped people suffering from chronic back pain. Regular massage helped them to feel less anxious about their condition too. The study, which took place at a pain management clinic in Western New York, involved sixty chronic low back pain patients split into two groups. One group received regular massage therapy, twice a week for four weeks, along with their regular treatment, and one group only carried on with their prescribed treatments.
The participants all recorded their own pain levels before and after having massage therapy on a scale of one to ten. There was a significant difference between the pre-and post-treatment pain rating in the group with a regular massage. Still, the control group who carried on as normal reported no changes to their pain levels.
If you suffer from back pain and want to try something different, call us or book a massage session now.
Brilliant Massage & Skin
Burlington, Vermont