A study headed by epidemiologist Daniel Cherkin, senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, enrolled 401 people with chronic lower back pain that had no identifiable cause.
Study participants were randomly assigned one of three treatments. One group received a full-body relaxation massage. The second received specifically targeted deep tissue massage, and the third group got the usual care assigned for chronic lower back pain: medication and physical therapy.
In relaxation, or Swedish massage, a range of different maneuvers are used to promote a feeling of relaxation throughout the body and muscles. Structural massage, commonly referred to as deep tissue massage, targets more specific pain-related tissues, ligaments and joints.
After 10 weeks, the results were impressive: nearly two-thirds of the patients who received either type of weekly massage said their back pain was significantly improved or gone altogether. Only a third of patients receiving the traditional remedies for back pain experienced comparable relief.
"We found that both types of massage were equally effective in helping people improve their function and diminish their symptoms," Cherkin told NPR. He says massage relieved the pain for six months or more.
Dr. Richard Deyo of Oregon Health Sciences University told NPR that scientists aren't sure how exactly massage works to relieve pain.
"It may be that it helps with relaxation of muscles that are tense," Deyo said. "But it may also be that there are simply more generalized effects of relaxation--in the caring and attention and someone laying hands on--that may all be important."
