Massage Therapy Reduces Pain and Improves Function

New research, a 2015 systematic review, concludes that massage therapy reduces pain and improves function in the short term, for shoulder pain, low back pain, and osteoarthritis of the knee.


SUMMARY:
Musculoskeletal disorders cause pain and disability in a substantial proportion of the population.  The most affected areas of the body are low back, neck, shoulder, and knee.

Massage therapy is one of the earliest therapeutic tools used to relieve pain, and is a widely accepted treatment for musculoskeletal disorders.  Massage therapy plays a major role in physiotherapy practice.  

The specific mechanisms of action of massage therapy are unknown, but various physiological responses include: increased lymph flow, a parasympathetic neural response, increased clearance of blood lactate, effects on the immune system, cognition, & pain.  Massage therapy seems to produce local biomechanical changes which increase neural activity at the spinal cord, affecting mood, pain perception, anxiety, and depression.


http://www.journalofphysiotherapy.com/article/S1836-9553(15)00058-2/fulltext