A new study by epidemiologist, Daniel Cherkin, senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, showed massage is an effective treatment for lower back pain, according to a report by Thirdage.com.
Taking 401 people who suffered from chronic lower back pain without any identifiable cause, researchers created three groups: Full-Body Relaxation Massage; Deep Tissue Massage; and Medication and Physical Therapy.
After 10 weeks, nearly two-thirds of the patients who got either type of weekly massage showed significant improvement – some even showed the pain was gone altogether – compared to only one-third of those who used the traditional method of medication and physical therapy, according to the report.
“We found that both types of massage were equally effective in helping people improve their function and diminish their symptoms,” Cherkin told NPR, explaining massage actually relieved the pain in patients for six months or more.