Research: Massage is Effective Pain Relief therapy

A Review of the Evidence for the Effectiveness, Safety, and Cost of Acupuncture, Massage Therapy, and Spinal Manipulation for Back Pain.

Preliminary evidence suggests that massage, but not acupuncture or spinal manipulation, may reduce the costs of care after an initial course of therapy.
Annals.org

Randomized Trial Comparing Traditional Chinese Medical Acupuncture, Therapeutic Massage, and Self-Care Education for Chronic Low Back Pain.

Therapeutic massage was effective for persistent low back pain, apparently providing long-lasting benefits. Traditional Chinese Medical acupuncture was relatively ineffective. Massage might be an effective alternative to conventional medical care for persistent back pain.
PubMed

Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies for Chronic Low Back Pain: What treatments are patients willing to try?

A recent survey of 46,000 Consumer Reports subscribers found that among those who had experienced back pain, the relatively few who had tried deep tissue massage rated it more favorably than those who had tried medications or physical therapy.
Although participants in this study reported more knowledge of and experience with chiropractic, they were more enthusiastic about massage.
The relative popularity of massage may result from the more positive experiences of those who have tried it compared with chiropractic or acupuncture, and higher expectations that massage would be helpful for their current pain.
Moreover, chiropractic users were more likely to report treatment related 'harm' or 'pain' than were users of massage.
BioMedCentral.com
PubMedCentral.nih.gov

Patterns and Perceptions of Care for Treatment of Back and Neck Pain: results of a national survey.

Massage was rated as very helpful for back or neck pain by 65% of the people who had tried it. This was higher than for any other therapy, conventional or alternative.
PubMed

Effectiveness of Massage Therapy for Subacute Low-Back Pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Patients with subacute low-back pain were shown to benefit from massage therapy...delivered by experienced massage therapists.
CMAJ.ca

Massage Therapy and Frequency of Chronic Tension Headaches.

Compared with baseline values, headache frequency was significantly reduced within the first week of the massage protocol.
The muscle-specific massage therapy technique used in this study has the potential to be a functional, non-pharmacological intervention for reducing the incidence of chronic tension headache.
AJPH.org

Efficacy of Massage Therapy in Chronic Pain: a pragmatic randomized trial.

Pain improved significantly in both groups*, but only in the massage group was it still significantly improved at follow-up. Depression and anxiety were improved significantly by both treatments, yet only in the massage group maintained at follow-up.
*massage was compared to standard medical care
LiebertOnline.com

RawVeg.info