I just received an exciting announcement in my email inbox (yes, can you believe it?)
The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) has just published a comprehensive article outlining the work they have been doing to join forces with the Medical Community and our Public Health Institutions in order to address pain, and decrease reliance on Opioid Painkillers.
MD’s and Public Health officials are responding our crisis around the increased dependency on habit forming painkillers, and are beginning to recommend Massage Therapy to patients as a first line of approach to pain management.
While many who already receive massage treatments are likely aware of the benefits, there remains a broader question around its evidence-based efficacy for pain management. I believe this is because massage is a broad field, and the variability between different MT’s is great, and the experience is subjective. This does not mean that evidence-based research is futile.
And, the more we have States which adopt policies and action plans that are inclusive of non-invasive and non-dependent treatments – such as massage, joint manipulation, acupuncture and relaxation techniques – we can look forward to improvements in this area (In my opinion).