The study tested both structural massage and relaxation massage, also called Swedish massage, and did not find any substantial difference between them.
About 30 percent of those getting massages had used painkillers in the past week, compared with 40 percent of those getting usual care, and twice as many of those with the usual care stayed in bed at least one day in the past month. However, some of the benefits of massage disappeared after six months and all gains were gone after a full year.
Read the Annals of Internal Medicine report on chronic back pain.
http://www.annals.org/content/155/1/1.abstract
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