Alternatives To Health Insurance

Study: Massage beats meds for lower back pain

Seattle researchers recruited 401 patients, mostly middle-aged, female and white, all of whom had chronic low back pain.

Those who received a series of either relaxation massage or structural massage were better able to work and be active for up to a year than those getting "usual medical care," which included painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxants or physical therapy, the researchers found.

Lead study author Daniel Cherkin, director of Group Health Research Institute, said he had expected structural massage, which manipulates specific pain-related back muscles and ligaments, would prove superior to relaxation or so-called Swedish massage, which aims to promote a feeling of body-wide relaxation.

Structural massage, which focuses on soft-tissue abnormalities, requires more training and may be more likely to be paid for by health insurance plans, which may equate it with physical therapy, said Cherkin.

"I thought structural massage would have been at least a little better, and that's not the case," Cherkin said. "If you're having continuing problems with back pain even after trying usual medical care, massage may be a good thing to do. I think the results are pretty strong."

The study, funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is published in the July 5 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine .

Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: structural massage, relaxation massage or usual care. Those in the massage groups were given hour-long massage treatments weekly for 10 weeks.

At 10 weeks, more than one-third of those who received either type of massage said their back pain was much better or gone, compared to only one in 25 patients who received usual care, the study said. Those in the massage groups were also twice as likely in that period to have spent fewer days in bed, used less anti-inflammatory medication and engaged in more activity than the standard care group.

Six months out, both types of massage were still linked to improved function, Cherkin said, but after one year, pain and function was almost equal in all three groups.

Noting that most Americans will experience low back pain during their lifetime, Cherkin said another benefit of massage is its relative safety.

Articles of Health: Support Complementary and Alternative Medicine ...

Articles of Health are the writings of Robert O. Young D.Sc., Ph.D., based upon his theory that the human organism is alkaline by design and acidic by function. He suggests that there is only one sickness and one disease which is caused by an over acidification of the blood and then tissues due to an inverted way of living, eating and thinking. There is no way to have health and acidity -- health and alkalinity is the way! If you follow health care policy in the news then you already know that there are two health savings programs that help pay for complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments normally not covered by regular insurance. These are Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Currently CAM treatments are not considered eligible to be covered by HSAs. HSAs are savings accounts exempt from federal income tax at the time of deposit. Each year any unspent funds accumulate and "roll over" to the following year. To make use of HSAs one must be covered under a high-deductible insurance plan - but starting in 2014 the healthcare reform act will allow high-deductible or catastrophic healthcare insurance plans for people only under the age of 30.

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