ÔTHERAPEUTIC
MASSAGE- THE ART OF MANUAL MEDICINEÕ
After
thirteen years of opening my office daily I still-at times, find the need to
prove the value of massage as a healing art to those that question it so
ardently. In a monthÕs time we greet an average of 150-160 clients a month that
return again and again for massage, so why should I care? With those kinds of
statistics I certainly donÕt have anything to prove to anyone. Our clients see the value and come for
relaxation, stress reduction, relief from migraine headache, low back pain,
arthritis and fibromyalgia like symptoms, sports and other kinds of injuries,
and a variety of other maladies that plague the average individual from time to
time.
My
need, I think stems from my science based analytical mind, my background in
traditional medicine as a nurse and a naturally curious nature. I keep asking
myself, how is it that one simple therapy could have such positive effects on
so many different kinds of ailments? The answers are at least in part are far removed
from the hard core analytical science based ones that will satisfy. Therefore,
when I come across the kind of study recently published in the peer reviewed
journal ÒAlternative Therapies in Health and MedicineÓ itÕs worth sharing.
A
study performed on a total of 113 hospitalized patients at The University
Hospital, Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver gave these findings.
Patient perceptions of their responses to massage as well as the healthcare
providerÕs perceptions of patient responses to massage were as follows:
71-98%responded positively to these categories, ability to move around,
increased energy levels, relaxation, sense of well being, faster rate of
recovery and positive mood change. The health care professionals responded
positively 57-86% in their evaluation of the patientÕs mobility, energy levels,
relaxation, sense of well being, positive change in mood and decreased levels
of discomfort. The study ended with a dissected discussion of the benefits of
massage used as an in house treatment intervention reducing the need for
external treatments- (i.e. manual medicine lessening the need for other
medicines) such as medications for pain, sleep and anxiety, and therefore
proved to be a cost effective tool in health care
management.
Massage
is one of the oldest known forms of treatment. Hippocrates described massage as
Ôvaluable for treating a variety of ills, from sprains to constipation.Ó Once
performed by nurses, massage was a traditional therapeutic practice for the
care of the hospitalized patient, it has since been discarded in todayÕs high
tech world of medicine.
Dolores
Krieger, nurse Ph.D. and founder of The American Holistic Nurses Association
states Òthe therapeutic use of the hands is an act that we have all but
forgotten in this scientific age in our adulation of things mechanical,
synthetic, and frequently, anti human.Ó
This
same study goes on to point out that the patient entering the hospital
environment is a stranger in a foreign culture and massage would be a way to
create an atmosphere of caring, compassion and nurturing, and invites greater
participation in the healing process. Still some argue the value of massage
therapy because of its transitory nature. Is anything that permanent, doesnÕt
the pain pill or the anti-inflammatory drug not have to be repeated?
Just
as the hospital seems foreign to a patient, so does our high tech world of
stress we live in each day. The human hand that conveys warmth, comfort and
reassurance works wonders to relieve everyday stress, anxiety and helps promote
a sense of well being and a good nightÕs sleep. At last massage therapy whether
hospital based or private practice offers promise in reclaiming touch and
massage as an essential element of health and healing. Till next time, Rebecca