According to a new post over at Eurekalert (“EurekAlert! is an online, global news service operated by AAAS, the science society) . . .
Massage therapy is among the most popular complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments for anxiety. [source, all bold mine]
What’s the difference between simple massage and massage therapy? Good question. Just the addition of a word that ultimately means nothing? Possibly. But wait, here’s the lead sentence to the announcement of the results to research on its use:
A new randomized trial shows that on average, three months after receiving a series of 10 massage sessions, patients had half the symptoms of anxiety. This improvement resembles that previously reported with psychotherapy, medications, or both.
Sounds impressive, eh? As effective as psychotherapy and medications! That was no half-assed rubdown, at least not according the practitioners, for it was -
specifically designed to enhance the function of the parasympathetic nervous system and relieve symptoms of anxiety including muscle tension.
Ah, so that’s why it deserves to be called message therapy versus simple massage. It was designed to do something. But what did it really do?
Get ready for a balloon of pseudoscience to get popped. The study also found that the “designed” massage was “no more effective than simple relaxation in a room alone with soft, soothing music.”
But maybe that wasn’t just music, but music therapy.
For the science wonks interested in the how of the study, here it is, in brief:
The trial randomly assigned 68 Group Health patients with generalized anxiety disorder to 10 one-hour sessions in pleasant, relaxing environments, each presided over by a licensed massage therapists who delivered either massage or one of two control treatments:
Relaxation therapy: breathing deeply while lying down
Thermotherapy: having arms and legs wrapped intermittently with heating pads and warm towels
And the overall results, humbling to alternative-medicine-advocates -
All three of the groups reported that their symptoms of anxiety had decreased by about 40 percent by the end of treatment—and by about 50 percent three months later.
Karen J. Sherman, senior investigator, admitted, “This suggests that the benefits of massage may be due to a generalized relaxation response.”
Is it message therapy; is it complementary medicine? Certainly it brings therapeutic benefits. But so does an exercise program. Perhaps because few conventional doctors prescribe it’s use or practice it, I guess it is alternative. But it seems to me similar to exercise. I’m old enough to recall a time when doctors never asked about my personal exercise habits. Yet now that so much research has shown how good it is for so many things, both physical and mental, medical professionals of all stripes today will ask you about if and how much you exercise. And recommend you get more, if not enough.
An additional difference between exercise and massage, in terms of classification as alternative medicine, is that you can exercise on your own. Or visit a gym. For a massage, you need to visit someone who does something to you. Someone who charges and has some training. Thus, this down-to-earth activity with therapeutic benefits gets classified as alternative medicine. As therapy.
I just realized something. My wife regularly practices alternative medicine without a license. She’ll treat me to a massage now and again. I wonder, if we play soothing music at the same time, will I be instantly cured of all that ails me? Or is relaxed just relaxed, no matter what means we use to bring the state and what words we use to describe the methods? I think so.
Tags: alternative medicine
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