According to a small study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, massage therapy may be a viable option for those who suffer from lower back pain. Dr. Daniel C. Cherkin of Group Health Research Institute in Seattle and his colleagues recruited 401 men and women between the ages of 20 and 65 with nonspecific lower back pain and randomly assigned them to receive either an hour-long non-therapeutic relaxation Swedish massage, a structural massage concentrating on pain issues, or usual care (which typically included medication). After ten weeks, over a third of participants in both massage groups reported either an improvement or disappearance of back pain, while only one in 25 people in the usual care group had similar results. After 26 weeks, the positive effects remained, but after a year, there was no difference in symptoms among the three groups.
Chronic lower back pain, says ACSH s Dr. Gilbert Ross, is a common and serious problem.Too often, patients with chronic low-back pain undergo needless surgery. On the other hand, while taking various pain-relieving medications on a long-term basis is usually effective, it s also fraught with potential side-effects. He adds, For instance, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can have both cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risks; therefore, if one can alleviate back discomfort without surgery or medication, but with a massage instead, who would be against it? That being said, this study is small, and should be considered preliminary; a well-controlled prospective study should be done on a larger scale.