Guess what science has discovered about back pain …

According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics the UK  economy loses almost 31 million work days per year which costs the UK economy £14 billion to bad backs, neck & other muscle problems.  A bad back is of the most common causes of absence and 80% of p will suffer with people will experience back pain at some point in their lives.  At Vitality Therapy we find back pain is something we treat on a regular basis.

I know a lot of my clients and potential clients are interested in what the latest scientific research is on how effective massage is for treating back pain, becuase they don’t want to waste their time and money if massage isn’t going to help them.

Until now scientific studies of the effectiveness of massage were conducted in controlled research situations.  However in a recent study, a physician sent patients to a massage therapist.  The massage therapist designed and provided a series of 10 massage — at no cost to the patient — in a clinical treatment environment.  This clinical treatment environment mimicks the experience of people who choose to seek massage in the real world.

More than 50 percent of those who participated in the study experienced clinically meaningful improvements in their low back pain.  The reasearches concluded that the study gives primary care providers (i.e. GPs) the confidence to tell patients with chronic low back pain to try massage, if the patients can afford to do so.

References

http://www.nhsemployers.org/news/2015/04/bad-backs-cost-the-uk-31-million-days-of-work

Elder WG, Munk N, et al, 2017, Real Wold Massage Therapy Produces Meaningful Effectiveness Signal for Primary Care Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: Results of a Repeated Measures Cohort Study, Journal of Pain Medicine, 18(7):1394-1405

 

Related Posts

  • What is the cause of the low mangesium epidemic?

    Having identified that researchers believe there is an epedemic of low magnesium causes by our diets and lifestyles.  So what is it we are doing that is the cause of  the low magnesium epedmic. 1. Sweet foods Refined sugar found in pastries, cakes, desserts, sweets etc contains no magnesium and causes the body to excrete magnesium. 2. Physical and emotional stress Physcial stress e.g. surgery and emotional stress e.g. moving house, grief can cause a magnesium deficiency. In studies, adrenaline and cortisol by products of the "fight or flight" stress reaction assoicated with stress and anxeity were associated with decreated magnesium.  This is because stressful situations require more magnesium use by the body which can lead to a deficiency.  A lack of magnesium tends to magnify the stress reaction, worsening the problem. 3. Medication The effects of certain drugs

    • Diuretics
    • Heart medications
    • Asthma medications
    • Birth control pills
    • Estrogen replacement therapy
    have been shown to reduce mangesium levles in the body be increasing the loss through excretion by the kidneys. References Dean C. The Magnesium Miracle. New York: Ballantine Books; 2007.  

  • Trends in Healthcare

    Today I attended the Employee Benefits Connect event to find out about the latest trends in employee benefits.  Quite a few speakers identified the growth of onsite well-being services like the Vitality Breaks services I provide, as the number one healthcare issue in companies right now and for the next few years. The key conditions that are driving the growth of well-being services are:

    1. Diabetes
    2. Heart Disease
    3. High Blood Pressure
    4. Back Pain
    We all know that back pains is common, episodic, often recurrent and generally self limiting.  Long term absence form work is greatest amongst the minority of employees whose conditions is chronic (if the pains lasts for more than 12 weeks) or is recurrent (if there are several episodes of pain in one year lasting less than 6 months).  Most people who are effected by back pain either remain in work or return to work promptly.  About 85% of people with back pain take less than seven days off work. In a survey reported by the London Work Foundation it identified that 9.6 million workers are regularly affected by back pain.  In addition the London Work Foundation has identified that musculoskeletal conditions comprise about 55 %of all work-related illness throughout the UK compared to stress being responsible for 30 per cent of work-related illness, that figure drops to 31% when you focus only non-manual workers.    This makes musculoskeletal conditions the top reason for long term absence from work in the UK for non-manual workers. So why am I quoting all these statistics, because despite speakers talking about trends in healthcare being driven by amongst other things back pain and clear evidence that musculoskeletal conditions are the number one reason for absence there was no mention of solutions.  Go figure!!!!

  • Effect of a corporate chair massage program

    I recently came across a scientific study in slovenia on the impact of a corporate chair massage program.  As you can imagine, as I offer this service I was interested in the results of the study. Ninteen female volunteers who were aged between 40 - 54, were given chair massages on-site at their office twice per week for 1 month.  They were all reporting various levels of aches and pains when they were working at their desks.  The Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire was used to track and measure the aches and pains, while a goniometer was used to track and measure range of motion measurements for the neck and spine. The study showed a significant decrease for aches and pains in the neck and upper back.  In addition, it found significant increase in range of movement for cervical lateral flexion of 28.8% (moving your neck so your ear goes towards your shoulder) and cervical extension (moving your head back). This study fits with me and my teams experience that after a Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massages, clients are less tense, feel looser and are able to move their neck & shoulders more freely. Reference Sisko PK, Videmsek M, Karpljuk D, 2011, The effect of a corporate chair massage program on musculoskeletal discomfort and joint range of motion in office workers.  J Altern Complement Med, 17(7):617-22