Massage Therapy

When we talk about massage here at Sport & Spinal Solution Clinic, we always focus on what it does for our patients. The medical benefits have been the key focus of our massage therapy program.

What are we looking for when we use massage with our patients?

We think the number one thing is Stress Reduction. Stress can suppress immune function. It can lower wound healing. We know anything we can do to bring stress reduction is going to be helpful.

We think the second thing we see with a massage from a medical standpoint is its ability to help with the pain. So certainly in some of the studies with open-heart surgery patients who have a lot of back pain. When we work back there with a massage therapist, a lot of times that pain reduction is dramatic. We have done some studies trying to compare what happens when you get massage versus patients who have usual care where massage isn’t part of that. And almost all of those studies, what we show is that patients who get massage lower their anxiety, lower their stress levels, lower their muscle tension all over.

In the last ten or 20 years, there’s thousands of studies on massage. And so now we have enough evidence that we can start to say yes, massage in certain instances can be a very important part of how we care for our patients. It’s becoming very clear that there are certain conditions or diseases where we know massage can be very beneficial. Back pain, fibromyalgia, stress and anxiety, very high on the list of things. Or we think massage can be very helpful if you’re going to choose a therapist, have an interview, spend some time, ask them questions, find out what their philosophy is while they work with your primary care team or your physician team. And of course, there’s a number and we think a growing number of resources that patients can tap into or consumers can tap into.