Massage Better for Back Pain, Study Finds

Massage may relieve back pain better than medicine or physical therapy, new research suggests. The study included 401 people with long-lasting low back pain. They were randomly divided into 3 groups. One group received “usual care.” This included as medicines and physical therapy. The other 2 groups received massage an hour a week for 10 weeks. One group received structural massage. This kind of massage focuses on pain-related back muscles and ligaments. The other group got relaxation massage, also called Swedish massage. This type aims for overall body relaxation. After 10 weeks, about 1 out of 3 people who received massage said their pain was much better or gone. Only 1 out of 25 in the usual-care group reported this result. People who got massage also tended to use less medicine than the usual-care group. They were more active and spent fewer days in bed.