According to experts, more than 1.5 million people are living with chronic pain. NPR tells us that number accounts for a third of Americans. Many of them, unfortunately, rely on prescription medications like opioids to combat their pain.
According to a 2016 study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, roughly 11.5 million Americans ages 12 and older misused prescription pain medicine. This means that those dealing with chronic pain are at an increased risk of becoming addicted to opioids.
According to Record Searchlight, a part of the USA Today Network, there were 118 prescriptions written per 100 people for opioids in 2016. Although this number is down from what it was 10 years ago, it is still alarmingly high. For those living with chronic pain, getting them off of high opioid doses can be very hard. It’s all about finding an alternative method, and massage therapy is stepping up to the plate.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, deaths from prescription opioids like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone have more than quadrupled since 1999. Because of this, health organizations and government agencies are actively searching for alternative ways to manage pain. The American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) continues to be actively engaged with several agencies and organizations in regards to massage therapy for pain management, specifically concentrating on an alternative to opioids.
The American Massage Therapy Association met with the FDA in the fall of 2017 regarding the important role that massage therapy can play in pain management. As a result, new FDA guidelines were released very recently, calling on health care providers to be informed of the range of therapeutic options for managing pain, including non-pharmacologic approaches and therapies.
AMTA has also worked with the Academy of Integrative Pain Management to continue an ongoing dialogue on the integration of massage therapy into approaches to managing pain instead of using opioids. They have also met with other groups like the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, and its Energy and Commerce Committee.
According to Healthland Time, massage can elicit deep relaxation and stress relief. The deep touch used in massage can also work to ease pain and promote healing in sore muscles.
Researchers at McMaster University in Canada discovered that massage affects the activity of certain genes, directly decreasing inflammation in the muscles. This is the same result you would find after taking aspirin or ibuprofen. It also increases the patient’s ability to recover from exercise.
Approximately 91% of people see massage as beneficial to health and wellness, according to a survey released in 2014. This hopefully means that massage therapy will gain more popularity so we can finally put a dent in the opioid problem we’re experiencing in this country.
